JULY 2012
PRICING STRATEGIES
+
REGIONAL MEETINGS
+
2012-2013 MPI CHAIRMAN
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July 2012 • Volume 5 • Number 6
EDITORIAL STAFF
Wanna Grab a Coffee?
EDITOR IN CHIEF David Basler, dbasler@mpiweb.org
MANAGING EDITOR Blair Potter, bpotter@mpiweb.org
EDITOR Michael Pinchera, mpinchera@mpiweb.org
EDITOR Jason Hensel, jhensel@mpiweb.org
EDITOR Jessie States, jstates@mpiweb.org
I LOVE JULY. THERE I SAID IT. AS THE MERCURY CONTINUES TO RISE ABOVE 100/38
DEGREES, MOST PEOPLE THINK I’M CRAZY, BUT I LOVE JULY.
As I type this, the days are already getting longer (and hotter), and here
in the U.S. we’re preparing for Independence Day and we are only 30 (very
short) days away from WEC. The buzz of summer is all around us, and the
buzz about WEC can be seen or heard on every print and digital channel in
our industry. It almost seems as if you look forward to July as much as I do.
I started with MPI at about this same time four years ago and have
watched WECs in Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Vancouver and Orlando come
and go. Every year I see familiar faces, and I am thrilled to make countless
new connections. In fact, I will tell you that while working here at MPI, July
has become my favorite time of year simply because of WEC. It’s a “people
person’s paradise,” and I am a people person.
I love making face-to-face connections—getting out and talking with you
about what’s important in your world. My team’s No. 1 role at MPI is to watch
and listen, and then translate what we see and hear into content that will be,
among other things, useful, compelling and relevant to you—and will hopefully
make your personal and/or professional life even better than it was yesterday.
Connections we all make at conferences such as WEC last a lifetime, and
the ideas that come from even the most casual conversations at those conferences can make a resounding difference in the way we do business in the
future. These new ideas and innovations create new opportunities for all of us
that are not possible just sitting behind a desk every day.
content you will read in this issue should
The conte
spark a positive
reaction because, frankly, it’s conposit
you inspired. The ideas for new content
tent that yo
that we learn
about every day through regular
le
engagement
engagemen with you is what makes my job fun,
and the process
starts when we meet face to face
pro
conferences such as WEC.
at conferenc
can’t wait for WEC to begin another year
I can’
of fresh new idea gathering and collaboration
what has thus far been a glorious eduon w
cation. If you see me at WEC, stop and
ca
say hello, or send me an email (dbasler@
sa
mpiweb.org) and let’s meet for coffee.
m
I’d love to chat and learn more about
I’
yyou. I’ll see you in St. Louis!
REPORTER Stephen Peters, speters@mpiweb.org
CREATIVE DIRECTOR Jeff Daigle, jdaigle@mpiweb.org
GRAPHIC DESIGNER Javier Adame, jadame@mpiweb.org
DESIGN AND PREPRESS Sherry Gritch, SG2Designs, sherry@sgproductions.net
COVER DESIGN Jeff Daigle, jdaigle@mpiweb.org
MPI ADVERTISING STAFF
Su Cheng Harris-Simpson, suchenghs@mpiweb.org, Phone: (10) 5869-3771 (Asia)
Katri Laurimaa, klaurimaa@mpiweb.org, Phone: (817) 251-9891
(AL, AR, CO, IA, IL, KS, KY, LA, MN, MO, MS, MT, NC, ND, NE, NM, OH, OK,
SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, WI, WV, WY)
Jennifer Mason, jmason@mpiweb.org, Phone: (772) 233-0678
(AK, AZ, CA, CT, DC, DE, ID, MD, NJ, NV, OR, PA, WA)
Carolyn Nyquist, Manager of Client Services, cnyquist@mpiweb.org,
Phone: (972) 702-3002
MPI EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT
Cindy D’Aoust, Interim Chief Executive Officer/Chief Operating Officer
Danya Casey, Vice President of Events and Certification
Diane Hawkins, SPHR, Director of People and Performance
Sandra Riggins, Chief of Staff
Didier Scaillet, Chief Development Officer
Junior Tauvaa, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketplace
INTERNATIONAL BOARD OF DIRECTORS
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Chairman of the Board
Kevin Hinton, Associated Luxury Hotels International
Chairman-elect
Michael Dominguez, MGM Resorts International
Vice Chairman of Finance
Kevin Kirby, Hard Rock International
Vice Chairman
Roel Frissen, CMM, Parthen
Vice Chairman
Carl Winston, San Diego State University
Immediate Past Chairman
Sebastien Tondeur, MCI Group Holding SA
BOARD MEMBERS
Krzysztof Celuch, CMM, CITE, Vistula University
Jordan D. Clark, Caesars Entertainment
Ricardo Ferreira, GRUPO ALATUR
Hattie Hill, CMM, Hattie Hill Enterprises Inc.
Cornelia Horner, CMP, American Land Title Association
Allison Kinsley, CMP, CMM, Kinsley Meetings
Carol Muldoon, CMM, KPMG LLP
Fiona Pelham, Sustainable Events Ltd.
Alisa Peters, CMP, CMM, Experient Inc.
Darren Temple, CTA, Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau
Erin Tench, CMP, CMM, Penn State University
Stephanie Windham, CMP, ARIA Resort & Casino
Legal Counsel: Jonathan T. Howe, Esq., Howe & Hutton Ltd.
POSTMASTER: One+ (Print ISSN: 1943-1864, Digital Edition ISSN: 1947-6930) is printed
monthly, except the months of January and October, by Meeting Professionals International
(MPI), a professional association of meeting + event planners and suppliers. Send address
changes to One+, Meeting Professionals International, 3030 LBJ Freeway, Suite 1700, Dallas,
TX, 75234-2759. Periodicals postage paid at Dallas, Texas, and additional mailing offices.
SUBSCRIPTIONS: Members receive One+ as a membership benefit paid for by membership
dues. Nonmembers may subscribe to the publication for $99 annually. “One+” and the
One+ logo are trademarks of MPI. © 2012, Meeting Professionals International, Printed
by RR Donnelley
REPRINTS: Material in this publication may not be reproduced in any form without written
permission. To order reprints, call Wright’s Reprints toll free at (877) 652-5295 or visit
www.wrightsreprints.com.
CONTACT ONE+: Contact us online at www.mpioneplus.org or e-mail us at
editor@mpiweb.org. View our advertising, editorial and reprint policies online
at www.mpioneplus.org.
MPI VISION: Build a rich global meeting industry community
GLOBAL HEADQUARTERS:
Dallas, TX
REGIONAL OFFICES:
Doha, Qatar
Ontario, Canada
Luxembourg
Beijing
Magazine printed on FSC Certified Paper. The body of One+ is printed
on 30 percent post-consumer-waste recycled content. Please recycle this
magazine or pass it along to a co-worker when you’re finished reading.
DAVID BASLER is editor in chief of One+. He can be reached at
dbasler@mpiweb.org. Follow him at www.twitter.com/onepluseditor.
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JULY 2012
46
Think
Inside
the Rocks
Islandic wanted
to rise above the
noise at the annual
SnowSports Industries of America
conference to
create a one-of-akind event at which
attendees could
experience Denver.
60
Framing the Pricing Picture:
Revenue, Risk and Registration
The first in a three-part series examining the critical
pricing considerations for meetings and events.
BY MARIELA MCILWRAITH
BY KEVIN WOO
50
A Jewel
Event
The 29th Caribbean
Marketplace was a
high-stakes occasion for the newly
opened Montego
Bay Convention
Center in Jamaica.
BY ARTEMIS SKORDILI
54
A Sticky
Situation
More than 40,000
duct tape enthusiasts come to celebrate the “other
greatest tool” each
year in Avon, Ohio.
BY KIMBERLY KING
80
Ideas
Need an
Evangelist.
Meet
Lakshmi.
74
Finding
Fiscal
Friends
How one woman is
bringing the power of
the idea-fest to India.
The SEO of securing sponsorships
in tough times:
specificity, exclusivity and originality.
BY KAVITHA RAO
BY ELAINE POFELDT
58
Grow Your
Engagement
66
Kevin Hinton shares
his big-picture plans
for the coming year
as he steps into the
role of chairman for
MPI’s 2012-2013
international board
of directors.
The case for regional meetings
makes more
(smaller) meetings
a better fit for the
bottom line than a
singular event.
BY MICHAEL PINCHERA
Smaller +
Regional
= Better?
BY ROWLAND
STITELER
mpiweb.org
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JULY 2012
The BUZZ
10
ENERGY OF MANY
16 Diving in Head First
RISE Award winner Jillian Schroeder proves that it’s
best to make things happen for yourself.
Farewell from MPI
President and CEO
Bruce MacMillan, C.A.
12
IMPRESSIONS
Your industry peers talk
about face-to-face communications and being
the right kind of critic.
16
18
18 Ask the Experts
Paul Bridle enlists help from Marshall Goldsmith to
figure out “What keeps you going when there is so
much pressure?”
20 Agenda
Explore what connectivity means and understand
its effect on what we do as individuals and as an
industry at WEC.
26
TOP SPOTS
The Westin Michigan
Avenue Chicago completes a multimilliondollar renovation of its
banquet, ballroom and
conference and meeting
areas.
28
26
24 As Time Goes By…
In preparation for WEC, we take a look back at
some of the significant dates in MPI’s conference
history.
28
IRRELEVANT
Warm hats for cool dogs.
24 Sound Off
How does going to an association meeting benefit
you? Industry pros give their insights.
30
CONNECTIONS
Stray Rescue of St. Louis
will be on hand at the
World Education Congress
in St. Louis to provide
a unique CSR break
between educational
sessions.
30
36
Columns
36 Understanding Digital
Connections
This will help you thrive in the connectivity business.
86
YOUR COMMUNITY
Chapter leaders create
new connectivity at WEC.
22 Web Watch
Lost your place reading a long article online?
YouRhere lets you put a mark on a webpage so you
can easily pick up where you left off.
BY DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF
40
38
38 Narratives + Numbers
Finding your social return on investment (SROI).
BY ELIZABETH HENDERSON
87
40 Downtime is Critical for Your
Conference
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
The Foundation announces a multi-year partnership investment with
IMEX on key industry
initiatives.
88
INDUSTRY INSIGHTS
An auto company determines the business value
of its meetings to find
improvements and meet
its goals.
96
UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN
In the new India, curators
of ideas are going to be
very important.
Relentless programming could be programming the
creativity out of your delegates.
BY JACKIE MULLIGAN
42
86
42 Groundbreaking Marketeers
Hint: it’s all about engaging with customers.
Tag!
BY YVONNE NASSAR
Want to see bonus coverage on the go? Whenever you see this
phone icon, get out your smartphone (it works with any Webenabled smartphone with a camera including iPhone, BlackBerry,
Android, Nokia, Palm and countless others), and with a click of a
button you’ll be instantly transported to bonus videos and much
more. It’s that easy. Here’s what you need to do:
DOWNLOAD the Microsoft Tag Reader app (free for all leading smartphones at http://gettag.
mobi).
LAUNCH the app on your smartphone.
HOLD your smartphone over the digital tag until you see the tag in the crosshairs on your
phone’s camera and let the device do the rest. You’ll be instantly transported to bonus content.
mpiweb.org
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online:07.12
www.mpioneplus.org
CREATING THE
New Connectivity
The most important quest
st in business
usiness is to create and foster human connections
connections. Watch our exclusive video on
online at www.mpiweb.org/wec
and learn how
ow you’ll find your connectivity at the World Education Congress (WEC), July 28-31 in St. Louis,
Lo
Missouri.
WEC SESSIONS
WEC education sessions and descriptions are now online at www.mpiweb.org/wecc (click the Schedule tab).
The following is just a taste of the vast content offerings available at the conference.
Becoming a Cultural Chameleon: Championing
Adaptability in International
Settings
With international borders increasingly
opening up to travel, tourism and trade,
and international mergers and acquisitions leading to a seemingly overnight
eruption in global commerce, do you
have what it takes to build successful
business relationships outside the U.S.?
This session will provide attendees with
knowledge and tools to navigate the
international waters of meetings and
events.
8
one+
Live the Dream: Creative
Decision-Making for Association Planners
Say It So It Matters: Speaking with Purpose, Pretense
and Passion
Despite the creativity, teamwork, professional expertise and hard work that
meeting planners typically contribute to
an event, they don’t always succeed in
realizing their dreams for “the perfect
meeting.” This session will offer ideas on
changing the creative, decision-making
processes behind the planning of a
meeting or event, focusing on the best
ideas with the right balance of risk and
value to achieve the goals set forth.
This session is designed to provide the
attendee with a compelling and personal approach to creating high-impact
conversations that engage stakeholders
(customers, colleagues or prospects) to
do something (buy an idea or product,
request more information or simply open
their minds to a new perspective). The
session goes beyond traditional speaking
courses that focus on technical style and
presents a more organic approach to the
art of delivering meaningful information.
Power in Numbers
With the downturn and slow rebound
of business in the meeting and event
industry, it is increasingly important and
more challenging to find business and
make ends meet. Independent planners
and small business owners must find creative solutions by banding together and
supporting one another. But how? When
you have no internal team to depend
upon, your network of colleagues can
be your support team for success. Hear
from small business owners/independent
planners who have built their networks
by sharing resources, ideas, clients and
leads.
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>
THE ENERGY OF MANY
The MPI Foundation continues its drive
to provide innovative, career-building
thought leadership development
through the following key industry
partnerships.
Epilogue
LET ME START OUT MY FINAL “ENERGY
OF MANY” COLUMN BY THANKING MY
MPI FAMILY—my management colleagues, our industry partners and our
volunteer leaders—for their passionate
commitment to MPI. This is the “energy
of many” that makes the movement
that is MPI so remarkable. It is also this
energy that defines MPI more as a truly
diverse community and less as a codified organization. And last I checked,
communities change the world, not
organizations.
As I prepare to embark on my next
journey, the question I’ve been frequently
asked is “what will you remember the
most” from the past six years. Not an
easy question. It has been a time of
tumultuous change in our industry—a
time where we not only grew our global
economic footprint (that’s trillion with a
“T”) but a time in which we realized we
needed to expand our scope of vision aand
nd
figure out how to better tell our story.
But what
hat I will never forget are the
remarkablee actions of MPI members
everywheree who are making a real
difference in their local communities
by doing, not just talking. And they
are legion. They are in Mexico confronting media sensationalism to
ensure the real story of
Mexico’s successful
meeting industry gets told (just ask the
G20 leaders who were just there). They
are in Dallas and Orlando riding HarleyDavidsons to bring toys to kids who only
want a reason to believe someone cares.
They are in Shanghai introducing college
students to what a career in the meeting
industry is all about. They are in London
implementing a new global standard for
event sustainability on the biggest stage
in the world, the Olympic Games. They
are in Hawaii planting trees to ensure the
island paradise has clean air and water
for generations to come. And at every
opportunity, these members glow with the
“I am MPI and I love what we do” spirit.
That’s why MPI members everywhere
can say with complete conviction, “When
we meet, we change the world.” It is the
MPI relentless sense of purpose that I will
remember the most.
And it is why at MPI you can check
out any time you like but
you can never leave.
Corporate Social Responsibility
Future of Meetings
Quest for Talent
Strategic Meetings Management
BRUCE MACMILLAN, CA, is the
former president and CEO of MPI.
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IMPRESSIONS
>>
Face the Fear
[Re: “Face Time,” May 12]
Brilliant Jonah! The biggest obstacle I see is the conversation that doesn’t
happen even if the accountant and the marketing executive bump into one
another. Not because neither one knows what to say (a common fear of
those who avoid face-to-face networking), but because neither one asks
good questions. We are all more interesting to others when we ask good
questions and listen than when we talk! And we have the opportunity to
find those creative opportunities as we are listening and learning.
—Bridget DiCello
EDITOR’S NOTE: We appreciate the feedback on MPI
and your magazine, One+.
Your ideas and thoughts
are important to us. Let
us know what you think.
E-mail the editorial team at
editor@mpiweb.org.
You Tell Us
What type of smartphone
apps do you use most
often and why: audio/
video, games, news, social
media or augmented
reality? Send an e-mail to
editor@mpiweb.org.
12
one+
Everyone’s a Critic
Phasing Out?
Other Side of the Coin
[Re: “Welcome a Skeptical Eye,” Your
Industry blog]
Skeptics and those who challenge the
status quo can help make events (or
anything) better. We all need to think
critically to improve.
But, I have seen people who pride
themselves in being the ones who challenge stuff present in most organizations. The problem is that these people
sometimes do it in a way that they turn
everyone else off.
One person at a recent event made
a comment about something that was
not done well. When she walked away
two board members laughed about
her ability to always undermine everything and never praise. Her point was
actually correct and should have been
addressed, but her reputation was one
that she was universally not respected.
Be a skeptic, push people to try
new things and see things in new
ways...but don’t constantly be a critic
or you will lose your effectiveness.
[Re: “IMEX: Are Memberships
Obsolete?” Your Industry blog]
Rather than find new ways to sell
membership, associations should make
significant investments to increase their
capacity to create, deliver and capture
radical new value. The economics
of the traditional membership value
proposition continue to shift in an
unfavorable direction for associations,
and the stakeholders of the future (who
are already beginning to arrive) have
revealed their sky-high expectations for
new value creation.
What associations need is not
new membership models, but novel
business models without any form of
strategic, operational or financial dependence on membership. Instead of trying
to capitalize on scarcity, however, the
new sensibility of 21st century business
models must be to help stakeholders
maximize their ability to capitalize personally and professionally on resources
that are increasingly abundant.
[Re: “Olympic Countdown,” June 12]
Nice coverage on other ways companies and organizations can pinpoint to
sponsor events leading up to the Olympics. Thanks for a different and good
side of a story you normally would not
read about.
—Thom Singer
—Jeff De Cagna
—Bart Lasner
Secret Sauce
[Re: “Face Time,” May 12]
I agree with Jason Hensel. Anyone
can listen to the MP3s or watch the
streaming video, but the real value of
meetings comes from the face-to-face
connections; it’s the “Return On Attendance.” The secret recipe to forcing
people to mingle is to make it entertaining, easy and fun. The connecting
may need to be scripted at first, to get
attendees in conversations, but once
the conversations begin, the ideas will
flow.
—Kenny Zail
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18
Diving In Head First
20
Jillian Schroeder proves that it’s best to make things happen
for yourself.
BY STEPHEN PETERS
22
24
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HITTING THE GROUND RUNNING WAS THE KEY TO
SUCCESS FOR JILLIAN SCHROEDER, RECIPIENT OF
THE 2012 RISE (Recognizing Industry Success and
Excellence) Award for Young Professional Achievement.
“I had a mentor that pushed me to do things,”
Schroeder said. “I never said ‘no.’ I may have grumbled a little bit, but I never said ‘no.’”
From the moment she became an MPI Wisconsin Chapter student member in 2009, Schroeder was hands on with the interactive needs for the
chapter such as providing content for the Facebook
page and being knee-deep as a volunteer at chapter
events.
“I volunteered my time almost immediately to
assist in chapter events,” she said. “This gave me
the opportunity to learn more about MPI and begin
networking with members. It allowed me to begin
working with those in leadership positions within
our chapter.”
As a student, Schroeder assisted in the execution
of a 1,000-person event for a local meeting professional. Because of her quality of work, she was
selected to be project manager for all volunteers,
which allowed her the opportunity to invite four
other students to volunteer for the event and gain
much-needed hands-on experience. To augment
students’ learning outside of a classroom setting,
Schroeder organized a trip to a special events showcase and other industry events for club members.
“Attending these events opened the eyes of many
students to the various career choices available in
the industry,” she said. “In fact, one of the connections that I made at the event enabled me to connect a company with a student who was searching
for employment. Shortly after graduation, she was
hired.”
Schroeder was part of the student involvement
team, regularly a speaker at Madison Area Technical College about the benefits of joining MPI and
ways to become more involved in the industry, and
was instrumental in creating the student involvement page on the Wisconsin Chapter’s website.
She also helped develop the Wisconsin Chapter’s
MENTORme program, which is intended to match
student members with those who excel in specific
fields in the industry. From suppliers to planners,
corporations to associations and everything in between, MENTORme offered participants the opportunity to help one another grow.
07.12
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World Education Congress
July 28-31 • St. Louis, Missouri
>>
2012
Paul Bridle
Asks the Experts
RISE at WEC
RISE Award recipients will be honored
at a luncheon on July 29 at the World
Education Congress in St. Louis.
Visit MPIWeb.org/wec to learn more
about the event.
As Schroeder continued volunteering and networking, she carried those experiences into the Meeting and Event Management
student organization at Madison College. As the vice president of
the Meeting Planners Association, she helped plan activities that
bettered the community, which helped establish a positive presence at the school. These activities led to two straight years as
recipient of the Club Community Service Challenge award.
“I helped to make the focus of our club our members, meaning
that we regularly planned activities that would help members gain
real-life experience,” she said.
Many of these activities involved giving back, whether by
fundraising or to enhance awareness of an important issue.
Schroeder realized shortly after graduating there was a real
need within her chapter to reach out to student members and
those wishing to gain more experience. She connected with a
fellow member who shared that feeling, and together they created the Student Involvement Team, actively reaching out to students—both MPI members and non-members—throughout the
state in hopes of developing a mentorship program.
On a weekly basis, the two connected with the Wisconsin
Chapter’s vice president of membership to discuss different avenues to interact with student members. This led to a focus on
reaching out to every school in Wisconsin that offered a meeting or event management program. They visited four campuses
to discuss the benefits of joining MPI, leading to 27 new students
joining MPI’s Wisconsin Chapter during 2010-2011. Since then,
the student activity within the Wisconsin Chapter has increased
significantly.
Schroeder continues to speak at her alma mater to current students in the meeting and event management program. Additionally, she worked with the staff of Madison College and presented
to nearly 200 prospective students and their parents about her
time as a student and how students can be successful in their own
lives as well. She has also presented at an advisory board meeting
at Madison College to demonstrate the abilities and knowledge
of a former student. She was asked to sit on the newly created
Madison College Alumni Advisory Board to share her insights
with administrators and help make an impact on decisions made
by the college.
Most recently, Schroeder was acknowledged by her colleagues
and nominated for the Wisconsin Chapter’s 2012-2013 board of
directors, where she hopes to use her skills to strengthen relationships between new members and those who already thrive in the
industry.
“I hope that this opportunity gives me the chance to move my
career to the next level,” she says.
What keeps you
going when there is
so much pressure?
I put this question to one of the
world’s greatest
thinkers, Marshall
Goldsmith (marshall
goldsmithlibrary.
com), a man who
does a great deal of
coaching for some
of the top leaders in
the world.
Marshall Goldsmith
Goldsmith has
worked with some
great business leaders, and he asked them how they achieve
success in life. He discovered that five things were most important to them.
Health is at the top of the list. Then came wealth, but it’s
not as important as many people think. As long as they have
wealth up to a middle-class level, they are satisfied. A major
importance was building positive relationships.
And finally, “doing what makes you happy and something
that is meaningful.”
Goldsmith said that when he is coaching executives, he
works with them on their reputation.
“Reputation is how the world sees us. If the world sees
me as X when I want to be Y, then that perception influences
me and holds me back from being Y,” he said. “So reputation
is about knowing how we want the world to see us and then
aligning ourselves to achieve that.”
He also explained that good leaders have a positive spirit
that radiates from the inside out.
“These people lead a fulfilling life. If you have a positive
spirit, then why would you retire?”
Goldsmith says he knows people in their 80s still working,
because they want to achieve things. This positive spirit provides them with the motivation they need.
So what is Goldsmith’s approach to keep moving forward?
He measures everything.
“How do you know if you have achieved anything if you
don’t measure?” he said, pointing out the “daily question process” in his book, which he asks himself everyday to ensure he
is on track and moving forward.
Paul Bridle is an information conceptualizer who has
researched effective organizations and the people
who lead them for 20 years. He writes and speaks on
his research and business trends. Reach him at info@
paulbridle.com.
STEPHEN PETERS is the reporter for One+.
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Franchising & Business
Opportunities
July 21-22
Brisbane, Australia
From insider tips to expert advice,
generating extra income to a career
shift, the 2012 Brisbane Franchising &
Business Opportunities Expo will help
turn your ambition into action. No other
event gives you the opportunity to talk
face-to-face with leading franchisors and
successful franchisees across a range of
business opportunities.
TrendSet
July 7-9
Munich, Germany
Twice a year—every January and July—
TrendSet - International Living and Lifestyle Fair for Consumer Goods offers the
forum that more than 35,000 attendees
seek. Attendees will be able to view 1,100
exhibitors and their 2,300 collections
that come from European manufacturers,
importers and commercial agents of international businesses.
Hawaii Lodging, Hospitality
& Foodservice Expo
July 11-12
Honolulu, Hawaii
More than 4,600 attended last year’s
expo and even more are expected to
attend the state’s largest trade exposition
this year. The Hawaii Lodging, Hospitality and Foodservice Expo is the only event
providing access for industry buyers to a
full range of products and services. The
primary objective is to bring industry
professionals together to create an effective and efficient marketplace.
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HostingCon 2012
July 16-18
Boston, Massachusetts
The premier conference and trade show
for the hosted services industry will have
the best and brightest from the industry
in attendance to learn about the latest
news, ideas and technology affecting their
businesses. In it’s eighth year, HostingCon
has a projected attendance of more than
2,000 Internet professionals from 30
countries.
DMAI Annual Convention
July 16-18
Seattle, Washington
Destination Marketing Association
International’s (DMAI) annual event is
the leading educational event for destination marketing organization (DMO) pros,
offering the best of peer networking events,
educational sessions, interactive discussions
and out-of-industry ideas for inspiration.
DMAI’s general sessions feature entertaining and insightful commentary from such
keynoting speakers as the Gen-Y Guy.
World Education Congress
July 28-31
St. Louis, Missouri
You’ll explore what connectivity means
and understand its effect on what we
do as individuals and as an industry.
You’ll also be connected to thousands
of professionals just like you. Building
on 2011’s success, a program has been
developed that will deliver a balance of
education in specialty planning sectors
as well as advanced and intermediate
levels.
The LED Show
July 31-August 1
Las Vegas, Nevada
This event is focused on the fast-growing
lighting design and technology segment of
the LED industry. The latest in LED fixtures from multiple sources are featured
on the exhibit floor, enabling attendees to
make informed specifying or purchasing
decisions. Last year, 87 exhibitors drew
an attendance of more than 3,000 people
from the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Spain,
Italy and many other countries.
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HOW’S THE WEATHER?
Making the Shift at WEC
Don’t miss “Shifting Gears: How to Move from
Logistic to Strategic” with Karen King of Meeting
Strategists LLC at the MPI World Education
Congress in St. Louis, July 28-31.
As meetings and events come under even
greater scrutiny from senior management,
organization leadership, government and the
media, great logistics planners will need to step
up their game and focus on strategy. In the next
evolution in your role as a meeting professional,
you must develop new skills such as the ability
to analyze data, secure/manage stakeholders and
incorporate business objectives into your events.
In this session, you’ll hear from colleagues
who have advanced their roles beyond logistics
and initiated strategic meeting planning into their
organizations.
You’ll learn
how to 1)
create positive
change
within your
organization’s
events
policies, 2) incorporate your organization’s goals
and messages into your planning process and 3)
think strategically and develop skills to achieve
buy in from upper management.
Are you planning an event that depends on the
weather? If yes, then you need a tool that shows
weather forecasts in a quick way. Here to offer
that is a web service called wwhim.com. To start
you will need to either type in the name of a
location or its zip code. Relevant results will be
displayed and divided into days and areas. The
information is neatly presented for you to easily
understand.
EVENT TRACKING
eventzilla.com is a web service that helps event
managers handle events online. It lets you easily create an account and then set up an event
page. While it can support event management of
any type, it is best suited for events that attendees pay for. For free events, the site does not
charge you anything, and for pay-for events, the
site charges a flat rate of $1 per attendee.
ONLINE BOOKMARK
There are many services out there that let you
save a webpage for reading later. But youRhere
seems to be the first that actually allows you to
mark a specific line within the webpage so that
you know where you left off reading that lengthy
article. All your read-it-later pages can be accessed from the add-on icon in the extensions
toolbar of the Chrome web browser.
PDF TOOLBELT
PDFtools.egedsoft.com is a handy online utility
that allows users to perform many actions on
PDF files for free and from one place. The user
does not need to download any third-party extension software to perform individual actions. With
PDFTools, users can convert any file to JPG, merge
PDF files, rotate PDF documents and more.
Read more blog articles at MPIWeb.org.
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SOUNDOFF
How have you benefited from
attending an association meeting?
As Time Goes By...
The 40-year evolution of MPI’s conferences
We continue to celebrate MPI’s 40th anniversary in July, a time of year which
also signifies that the World Education Congress (WEC) is upon us.
The 2012 WEC promises to help you find your connectivity inspiration in
today’s hyper-connected world, but let’s take a look back at some of MPI’s
conference milestones.
• The Steering Committee meets on February 15, 1972, the last day of the
World Meeting Planners Congress & Exhibition (WMPCE), to essentially
decide the fate of the newly formed MPI.
• The first MPI Weekend Workshop was held September 8-10, 1972, at the
Sheraton-O’Hare Hotel with 23 members, three nonmembers and five
spouses in attendance.
• The first freestanding meeting, The World Meeting Planners Congress, was
held in 1974 in Chicago.
• Incentive Travel and Meeting Executives Show (IT&ME) was held October
2-4, 1974, at McCormick Place in Chicago; MPI’s mid-year meeting was held
there in conjunction, and 1,763 advance registrations were made.
• In 1976, MPI held its first Annual Conference (AC) in Chicago and
Professional Education Conference (PEC) in Orlando. The first AC theme was
called “MeetingMart ’76: A Total Learning Experience—MPI the Key.”
• In 1977, MPI introduced a new concept called “Interface,” which gave
planners and suppliers an opportunity to select with whom they wanted
to meet. Computers matched people up and there were 42 scheduled,
eight-minute sessions. This allowed for 12 appointments to be made at the
meeting.
• MeetingInfo was MPI’s first official trade show. This took place at the 1988
Annual Conference in Seattle, Washington.
• In December 1994, the names of MPI’s conventions were changed. The MPI
Annual Convention became MPI WEC, PEC was changed to PEC-NA and the
MPI European Conference was changed to PEC-Europe. In 2008, PEC-Europe
became EMEC.
• In 1996, the first World Education Congress was held in Nashville.
• In 2010, MPI makes its first foray into hosted-buyer programs with
MeetDifferent in Cancun, Mexico. FaceTime was used to facilitate the
matchmaking.
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Going to an association
meeting is beneficial for
several reasons. It allows
me to network and build
relationships with a tight
group of industry peers
who, outside of these meetings, may not have as much
time to spend with me. I
attend conference education sessions to learn
what the new trends are in the association
industry, and it allows me an opportunity to
show prospective clients how I can add value
to their events.
—Chris Sessions, director of national accounts
for Pinehurst Resort
I’ve probably been to more
than 300 MPI meetings
over the years, locally
and internationally. Being
among people who do what
I do, need what I offer and
know what I need to know
accelerates networking and
learning by a huge factor.
I can get more out of a three-day WEC than
I could in three months of basic seminars,
web conferences or classes. It’s not just about
being face-to-face, it’s about being with the
right people.
—Jeff Rasco, CMP, CEO and founder of
Attendee Management Inc.
Attending association meetings benefits me in so many
ways, but if I had to name
my top two, it would be
networking and education.
People do business with
people they know and trust.
Attending the meetings
gives me the opportunity to
build and strengthen relationships. Education
is another one because it keeps me apprised to
what is happening in the association world.
This in turn equips me better to serve my
partners, the meeting planners.
—Lena Goodley, CMP, senior sales manager for
Pennsylvania Dutch Convention & Visitors Bureau
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TOP
Spots
Westin Michigan
Avenue Chicago
At the beginning of March, the Westin Michigan Avenue, located on the
north end of Chicago’s Magnificent
Mile, completed a US$7 million renovation to its entire 38,000 square
feet of banquet, ballroom, conference
and meeting areas.
Those improvements include
state-of-the-art lighting and audio
systems, faster Internet connectivity and increased flexibility in room
configurations. These enhancements
were implemented with eco-friendliness in mind, such as brighter,
energy-efficient lighting in the ceilings as well as new wool carpeting
on the floors, which will last longer
because of its natural, thicker fiber.
For conference attendees, the
property installed Fatpipe, a bandwidth management network tool that
significantly boosts the hotel’s conference area IT connectivity.
Other improvements include an
electronic reader board system, along
with insulation upgrades in the walls
to make the rooms more soundproof.
The 752-room property is designated as Green Seal Silver Certified
and meets the Green Seal Environmental Standard for Lodging Properties, which it earned last year.
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Sheraton Reserva do Paiva Hotel
and Convention Center
Sheraton Hotels & Resorts will have a new foothold in Brazil
coming in March 2014 with the opening of the Sheraton Reserva
do Pavia in the Pernambuco state. It will be the first five-star hotel in Reserva do Paiva and will feature 289 guest rooms, including 21 junior suites and seven deluxe suites. It will also feature
a modern convention center with more than 9,180 square feet
that can accommodate up to 2,100 people. The meeting space
includes two ballrooms, four function rooms and other flexible
meeting and exhibition areas.
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Fairmont Pekin Moscow
Conrad New York
Moscow’s notable icon, the Pekin Hotel, will be rebranded as the Fairmont Pekin Moscow following a multiyear
restoration program, set to be complete by 2014. The
hotel will feature 236 guest rooms and suites as well as
more than 10,225 square feet of meeting and function
space. Guests will also be able to enjoy a wide selection
of dining venues within the property.
The 436-suite Conrad New York
opened its doors in New York City’s
vibrant Battery Park neighborhood in
mid March, rising 16 stories along the
Hudson River. The all-suite luxury hotel
in lower Manhattan is the first in New
York from Conrad Hotels and Resorts.
The property has more than 30,000
square feet of meeting space, and the
Gallery Ballroom holds roughly 600 attendees in more than 6,200 square feet.
Radisson Blu Conakry
As one of the fastest-growing hotel companies,
the Rezidor Hotel Group is scheduled to open the
Radisson Blue Conakry in Guinea in 2014. The
249-room property will sit on a cliff with views
overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and will be only
one mile away from the new soccer stadium that
will host the African Cup of Nations in 2014. The
hotel will also offer 17,000 square feet of conference and meeting facilities, an outdoor swimming
pool and several restaurants and bars—which include an outdoor terrace and rooftop restaurant—
as well as hotel-operated serviced apartments and
a casino.
Palace Hotel Tokyo
Following a US$1.2 billion investment, the new Palace Hotel Tokyo opened its doors in mid May near
Imperial Palace. The 290-room property succeeds
two previous hotels, Hotel Teito and Palace Hotel,
that occupied the same site. Aside from the 290 guest
rooms, the 23-story hotel features 12 suites and only
the second Evian Spa outside of France. The main
meeting and function space holds up to 1,500 people
at more than 17,000 square feet, which can be divided into eight function spaces.
mpiweb.org
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T
N
A
V
E
L
E
R
R
I
There’s
Not Enough
Pug in the
World
You’ve got the pug, but do you have the
gear? These cool hats will keep your dog’s
noggin warm. (AllYouNeedIsPug.com,
US$25)
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> CONNECTIONS
>
RUFF-ing It
WHO:
Stray Rescue of St. Louis
Meeting Professionals
International
St. Louis Convention & Visitors
Commission
EVENT:
World Education Congress (WEC)
St. Louis, Missouri
Saturday, July 28, through
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
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BY STEPHEN PETERS
THE 2012 WORLD EDUCATION CONGRESS (WEC)
IS ALL about connectivity in
today’s hyper-connected world,
in which you no longer just
plan meetings and events. Simply, WEC is about designing human connectivity.
This year’s WEC promises educational sessions to help inspire you toward that connectivity. But in between days chock full of sessions and
bustling audiences of meeting and event professionals is an opportunity
to create a different type of connection.
During each day of this year’s WEC, attendees will be able to unwind
a bit from the packed schedule and give some attention to those who
could use it most but will never ask for it: man’s best friend.
For four days, stray dogs from the St. Louis area will be on site at WEC
and will have the spotlight on them during Puppy Cuddling sessions.
“We’ve got a lot of cool things going on for MPI at the convention,”
said Jason Schipkowski, director of marketing and development for Stray
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Rescue of St. Louis. “We’re fortunate to have the opportunity to be approached to do this type of community event.”
July will mark the second year Stray Rescue has
been a part of a convention such as WEC. In August,
the organization, partnering with the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission—which is sponsoring the
Puppy Cuddling events—was at ASAE’s annual convention for the same purpose.
Schipkowski said last year’s first-time event was a
huge success and that participants enjoyed the break in
the sessions to do a CSR project much different than
what they’ve done in the past.
“It was overwhelmingly positive,” he said. “Everybody is there in really good spirits. They seem to really
understand what [Stray Rescue’s] mission is all about.
It’s a nice break from the day to be able to love up on
a dog.”
It was because of that success that Stray Rescue was
immediately recommended to MPI for WEC when the
topic of a community service project was brought up,
says Steve Stickford, senior vice president of convention
industry relations for the St. Louis CVC.
“We just believe the connection with them and the
community service project is well worth it,” Stickford
said. “We want to highlight the fact that St. Louis is a
very pet-friendly community.”
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During each day of this year’s WEC,
attendees will be able to unwind a
bit from the packed schedule and
give some attention to those who
could use it most but will never ask
for it: man’s best friend.
St. Louis is home to more than 30 hotels that allow pets,
and there are many pet-friendly dining options available
throughout the city.
On Saturday at WEC, Stray Rescue will be offering two
very unique experiences. In the “Doggie Treat Baking Workshop,” bakers who specialize in making tasty treats will work
closely with participants to make snacks from scratch in a
commercial kitchen.
“Participants can sign up at WEC, go into a commercial
kitchen and learn about nutrition for dogs,” Schipkowski
said. “They’ll put the ingredients together, bake them and
package them. It’s kind of that whole experience of making
dog treats for the shelter dogs here.”
The second experience invites attendees to participate in
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a “Doggie Day Spa.” Stray Rescue staff and volunteers will
be on hand to assist participants in giving our four-legged
friends well-deserved baths in the summer sun.
“We’ve got washing stations, drying stations and brushing stations,” Schipkowski added. “It’s kind of an enrichment exercise for the dogs up here
because the sheltered environment
can be stressful. So it gets them out
and about. It’s something that’s not
necessarily routine around here.”
For the doggie day spa event, participants will be encouraged to bring
clothes they don’t mind getting a bit
wet or dirty.
Once the baking is done and the
baths are given, all participants from
both events will be shuttled to Stray
Rescue’s flagship shelter, where the
squeaky-clean canines will be given
their delicious, healthy treats.
For those who do not wish to
have direct contact with the dogs,
there will be other activities available,
such as stuffing Kong chew toys with
peanut butter. This is also a great way
to enrich the lives of the dogs while
they are in the shelter waiting for their forever homes.
Schipkowski said these events are great for the dogs because it teaches them socialization, allowing the pooches to
become more adoptable. This becomes beneficial to Stray
Rescue because as animals become adopted, they are able
to take in other strays.
“Even though it’s four hours worth of volunteering,
they’re really critical hours and it helps us save the dogs a
great deal,” he said.
Though this experience lasts for a day, the care and attention that will be given to these dogs will endure long
after. Every time these dogs are shown love and receive socialization it’s another step toward successful adoption, which results in more
strays being rescued from the streets.
Donations will also be collected to assist Stray Rescue in its mission.
Stray Rescue will also have an area
at WEC so attendees will be able to
help put together adoption kits—paperwork—that need to be assembled.
Even though dogs were not adopted at last year’s convention, the
event did help bring awareness to
Stray Rescue’s cause and allowed the
dogs to be more adoptable because
of the socialization and interactions
they received from the delegates.
Stop by the Puppy Cuddling area,
where rescued dogs will be waiting
for your love and attention. A few
adult dogs will also be present, if
you’d like a larger dog to hug. This
will be much more than a re-energizing break from your
day. Your interactions with these dogs provide important
socialization—connectivity—to ensure that they are
more adoptable and better equipped to find their forever
homes.
STEPHEN PETERS is the reporter for One+.
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> > CO N N EC T I V I TY
UNDERSTANDING
DIGITAL INTERACTIONS
Learning the differences between digital and face-to-face
connec ons will help you thrive in the connec vity business.
BY DOUGLAS R U SHKOFF <<
I HAVE BEEN REVIEWING THE
MPI MISSION in preparation for a
workshop I’m doing at the upcoming
World Education Congress (WEC)
in St. Louis. The conference website
(www.mpiweb.org/wec) has posted
a pretty compelling video explaining
the organization’s underlying focus
on connectivity: “In today’s hyperconnected world you no longer just
plan meetings and events; you design
human connectivity.” True enough;
but it left me thinking.
Connectivity is an awfully big
word for the simple phenomenon it
describes. Well, maybe not a simple
phenomenon, but a natural one.
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People are naturally, even organically
predisposed to form connections
with one another. After all, we didn’t
evolve individually but as members
of little collectives. On both a behavioral and a cellular level, activities
and chemicals that supported bonding and communication between a
tribe’s members were favored.
So we learned to respond to the
cycles of the sun and the moon, creating common work and rest times.
We release neurochemicals like oxytocin that support our sense of rapport and empathy. And we developed
body language, pacing awareness and
mirror neurons to better sync up to
others’ emotional states. That’s just the
way people are: connected.
The only thing that makes connectivity so complex these days is the
extent to which our society has worked
to defeat all of those mechanisms.
From mass production that served
chiefly to disconnect consumers from
local producers to mass media that
disconnected consumers from one
another, our lives have been shaped
largely by businesses that do better the
less connected we are to each other.
We buy more snow blowers, for
example, if we don’t share them with
our neighbors. If our whole block
enjoys real connectivity, we could eas-
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Watch the
Connectivity
video mentioned
at the beginning
of this article at
www.mpiweb.org/wec
ily make do with one and even enjoy
using it together. But that connectivity
would be bad for business. Likewise,
the long lonely commute many of us
take from home to our jobs is not a
feature of work itself. It is the result
of years of steadfast lobbying by an
automobile industry looking to make
the car essential to the American way
of life. The suburban landscape was
developed with the needs of the automobile industry in mind, intentionally
disconnecting home from work.
At first, the net seemed to reverse this trend. Instead of sitting
alone watching a TV monitor, we
were now engaging live with other
people through a computer monitor. Every email, every tweet and
every Facebook friend was a new
point of connection. People became
more interested in connecting with
other people than connecting with
professional content. And the content
people still consumed now seemed
like a mere excuse to interact with
some other person in a chat room or
through a Twitter hashtag.
But in spite of all this newfound
electronic connectivity, the more organic connectedness of people in the
real world still seems to be waning.
I watch high school kids walk home
side-by-side but texting to friends
elsewhere. Even if they’re texting
about some place they’re going to
meet up live, those engagements are
often spent staring into game screens
or taking pictures to post on a social
network.
In many ways, we are more connected than ever. We are utilizing
media to connect to other people
virtually. And this has led to many
profound changes in the way we
relate to all those other things that
used to come to us through media.
As I will demonstrate in my own
workshop, we no longer relate to
brand mythologies, and instead
long for more factual accounts
from the companies we patronize.
We find “reality” programming
more compelling than narrative and
trust consumer accounts of product
satisfaction more than professional
reviewers. That’s because the fundamental biases of the digital space are
different than the broadcast space. It
favors transparency and honesty over
fictional stories and mythic claims.
All this is good news, particularly
for companies and organizations
that have something to offer. But
all the while, live, human-to-human
engagement is becoming increasingly
rare, misunderstood and ultimately
undervalued. This is a problem that
only our organization can address and
solve.
If we are really in the connectivity
business, then we must come to a better understanding of how our digital
interactions support us, but also how
they fall short or at least differ from
the other kinds of connectivity we
once used and enjoyed. We need to
understand and be able to articulate
why a live connection today changes
the nature of our virtual connection
for months to come. And we have
to be able to do so in language that
doesn’t depend on vague, spiritual
understandings of the human condition but rather on substantive findings
about the particular benefits of engaging face to face.
There’s some research out there—
but not nearly enough for us to make
our case or even appreciate what it is
we are offering.
So here’s to connectivity as well as
distinguishing one sort of connectivity
from another. I will see you live and in
person in St. Louis.
DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF
is the author, most
recently, of Program or
be Programmed: Ten
Commands for a Digital
Age and Life Inc: How
Corporatism Conquered
the World and How We
Can Take it Back. He can
be contacted at www.
rushkoff.com.
mpiweb.org
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6/25/12 1:28 PM
>> CSR
NUMBERS
+ NARRATIVE
Finding Your Social Return on Investment (SROI)
BY E L I Z A B E T H H E N D E R S O N < <
MANY EVENT PROFESSIONALS TRY
TO MAKE A POSITIVE DIFFERENCE
through community service events, in
support of a social responsibility (CSR)
program. It makes us feel good. It can
also make a real difference in the community. But how can we measure that
and then tell the story of the change we
created? Social return on investment
(SROI) helps to do that.
According to Alison Lingane and
Sara Olsen, writing for the California
Management Review, the purpose of
SROI is to tell the story of the social
impact of an organization (or an event)
compared to the financial investment
you made to make the impact happen.
This is a broader concept than financial return on investment and measures
value created by changes to social,
environmental and economic systems,
or what is called the triple bottom line.
SROI is designed to measure value
added, or what you have uniquely
contributed. This is the concept of “impact” as defined by the SROI Primer,
38
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a publication of the New Economics
Foundation and the London Business
School. “Impact” is derived by first
taking your “inputs,” determining
the “outputs” of the activity through
consultation with key stakeholders
and then determining the change that
occurred. Impact is that change, less
the change that would have happened
anyhow.
Now we need to tell our story.
This helps build the emotional connection for stakeholders such as
event participants and employees.
The story is known as the “theory of
change.” According to Social Return
on Investment: A Practical Guide for
the Development Cooperation Sector,
the theory of change tells the story of
how stakeholder’s lives have changed
or are expected to change as a result of
the project. The story should include
measurable objectives specifically identifying how your organization believes
it can make a difference.
This methodology can be used in
advance, to compare SROI ratios of
possible projects and determine which
one might have the most impact based
on your best estimates. In the meeting
and event industry, which is increasingly under scrutiny by regulators and
internal managers, being able to use
numbers and narrative to tell your
story is important and can raise your
value in your organization. And that
is a theory of change that we could all
benefit from.
ELIZABETH HENDERSON, CMP,
CMM, ME Des., is the chief
sustainability strategist for
Meeting Change, a business
consultancy that leverages
sustainability to increase heart
share, mind share and market
share for effective business
results. She is a co-author of
Ethics and CSR in the Meetings
and Events Industry (Wiley,
2013). She can be reached at
www.meetingchange.com.
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>> FUTURE OF MEETINGS
DOWNTIME IS
CRITICAL FOR
CONFERENCES
Why relentless programming could be
programming the creaƟvity out of your delegates.
BY JACKIE MULLIGAN <<
“PLAYING IS BETTER THAN
WORKING.” A simple sentence
expressed by my three year old that
makes more sense than she can possibly appreciate. Who wouldn’t agree?
We all know it. Play is better than
work. And we also know that work is
better when it feels like play.
Playing is crucial, but in the world
of corporate events, now more than
ever, return is everything. But in the
serious business of securing return on
investment, are we making a loss on
creativity and innovation?
Playing is what we do in that
scrunched up bit of time at the dog
end of a day. Playing is also what we
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do when our minds wander freely in
a traffic queue or when we walk to
work. Combinatorial play—playing
with ideas and combining concepts
in new ways—was recognized by
Einstein as the fuel for “productive
thought.”
Meetings have been described
as potentially one of the best opportunities for play and learning.
Collaborating and communicating
about shared objectives described as
the “swings and roundabouts” of the
playground. It is not always like that.
Creativity happens in groups, but it
also happens when we are alone.
Many people report their most
creative moments come to them when
they least expect it, when they just begin drifting off to sleep, when they take
a shower or simply ride a bus. New
ideas squeeze into our consciousness
when our mind takes a break. This is
why downtime rocks.
But programming downtime in a
conference, when delegates need to justify the expenditure, is a challenge. So
what delegates get are parallel sessions,
breakouts, back-to-back presentations, education workshops, networking, appointment circuits and more.
Occasionally, you meet delegates who
are honest enough to tell you that they
escaped to their rooms before return-
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Programming
downtime in a
conference, when
delegates need
to justify the
expenditure, is
a challenge.
Occasionally, you
meet delegates
who are honest
enough to tell you
that they escaped
to their rooms
before returning
to the congress.
ing to the congress. But it is doubtless
that in that grasped moment of peace
they felt guilt for not using up the
full stock of opportunities blinking at
them from their real-time, relentlessly
timetabled, ever connected smartphone app.
Relentless is a word that saps
creativity. In a study on workday
design, researchers identified relentless mindfulness as a key challenge to
employee creativity. This is a concern
when innovation is the engine for
global business. There is a common
belief that creativity thrives under
pressure. This is not true. It thrives
under certain kinds of pressure. Not
“multi-tasking, rushing around and
stressing, headless chicken” kind of
pressure.
This is the kind of relentless mindfulness common in the workplace—a
constant shifting between competing
priorities, tasks and deadlines. Never
stopping to focus and play with
ideas. The relentless mindfulness that
cramps our creativity in the office has
leaked insidiously into our meetings and conferences. And relentless
programming could well be programming the creativity and innovation
out of your delegates.
So here’s the dilemma. Employers and clients might see value in a
packed program of relentless opportunities to ensure their delegates
are ever mindful, but what employers and clients might actually need
is delegate downtime. Not an easy
argument when the industry is being
faced with questions on the value of
meetings—but a necessary one.
Workday design studies and
decades of creativity research tell us
that to be innovative, staff need to
be given time to develop ideas on
their own and with others. In their
everyday business environments—unless they are working for Pixar (or
similar)—it is but a dream to think
that your delegates are given time
to play and think of ideas. Meetings
provide the ideal place and space to
do just that. Right now, the really
good meetings create the playground
for playing together—but additional
guilt-free, mindless time for individuals seems a big ask.
In the workday study, researchers
concluded that work design should
combine relentlessly mindful tasks
with intervals of mindless work. The
ability to give people free time to just
think about and think up “stuff” is
difficult. It became clear, when given
the opportunity, employees either
found other ways to keep busy or
were resented by colleagues. The
solution—the equivalent of a hot
shower in the office (but less upset-
ting for office colleagues)—was a
mindless activity like walking around
the shop floor. Employees looked
busy, but their minds were relaxed.
So how could such an idea be used to
enhance delegate creativity?
Creating a downtime program
could help. If you want to inspire
delegates to think differently, give
them time to do it. They could well
return to their offices, refreshed and
with a new approach or new idea that
might transform their business. How?
Consider individual pods to relax into
when delegates need some thinking
space, a permission slip to escape
for an afternoon walk in the park, a
chance to do a CSR activity—filling
bags of unused items for local charities, mindless but mind freeing.
In your meeting place, delegates
need personal space. If you don’t
program mindlessness, when they
get back to business, among all the
follow-ups, they lose the opportunity
to respond to the sparks that you tried
to ignite. Meetings are more than
networking and knowledge exchanging. Truly great meetings, now and in
the future, need to inspire innovation.
But this means meeting designers
being more mindful of mindlessness.
As the researchers remind us, “The
music of Miles Davis was great not
just because of the notes but also the
silences between the notes.” Silence
gives us pause for thought. And all of
the best ideas start here.
JACKIE MULLIGAN is a
principal lecturer in events
and director of enterprise
for the International Centre
for Research in Events,
Tourism and Hospitality at
Leeds Metropolitan University U.K., with more than
20 years of experience
managing events, tourism
and communications.
Follow her on Twitter @
jackiemulls or email her at
j.mulligan@leedsmet.ac.
uk.
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>> MARKETING
HOW TO BE A
GROUNDBREAKING
MARKETEER
Hint: it’s all about engaging with customers.
BY Y VO N N E N A SSA R < <
MARKETING OFTEN SOUNDS A
BIT VAGUE, THOUGH IT’S PRETTY
MUCH COMMON SENSE. Nothing
fancy. It’s all about the customer, and
in our industry, it’s often the person
in front of you. They’re the starting
point—then it’s about us. What difference can we make for them? What
are their challenges we can help to
overcome?
Groundbreaking marketeers in the
meeting and hospitality industry know
they can make a difference. They take
a stand with their company. They learn
from each other and from marketeers
outside their industry, benchmark with
the best, share knowledge and listen
to customers and colleagues with customer contact. They know how to start
a dialogue—online and offline. They
dare to bring up challenges and solve
them, for their customers’ sake. They
know how to focus.
In this ongoing column, I’ll share insights about marketing and the future
of events, best practices that catch my
eye and things I learned along the way
as an international marketeer. To start
off, here are a few basic skills:
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Great Dialogue
Asking open questions is key. Social
media gives wonderful opportunities
for entering in a dialogue with potential customers or other stakeholders.
Primary blocks to dialogue include
passivity, discounting, redefinition
and over-detailing, according to
George Kohlrieser, professor of leadership and organizational behavior
for the International Institute for
Management Development.
The Art of Listening
Sincere listening often means you
learn something new. It’s about asking the right questions and looking
at things from their perspective.
Find out what makes them tick.
Sometimes people don’t exactly
know what they want—rather, they
know what they don’t want. If your
product or service helps to solve your
customer’s challenge, this is where
you truly add value.
and brutal facts and making choices.
Translating core values to marketing
action is important, too. This helps
to bring them alive, beyond just a few
words in the boardroom.
To all marketeers who strive to be
groundbreaking: step up, start engaging with customers and take your role
within your organization. For the sake
of your customers, your company and
yourself. I invite you to send me your
feedback, ideas or success stories.
YVONNE NASSAR is head of
marketing and innovation at
Amsterdam RAI, the international convention centre in The
Netherlands. Based in the U.K.
and Paris for several years, she
was responsible for marketing
and PR in Europe for Dolce
Hotels & Resorts. Email Yvonne
at y.nassar@rai.nl and follow
her on Twitter @yvonnenassar.
Your Choices
A company can’t be successful
without knowing its own strengths
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SPECIAL ADVERTISEMENT
St. Augustine
and Ponte Vedra
floridashistoriccoast.com/meetings
Florida’s Historic Coast: Memorable
Meeting Venues
Florida sunshine, sparkling beaches,
great meeting facilities—and exciting
history? That rare combination of amenities helps ensure that every meeting
held on Florida’s historic coast is not only
professional and productive, but also
warmly remembered by attendees.
It starts with a convenient location.
Less than an hour south of Jacksonville
and two hours northeast of Orlando,
the meeting destination of St. Augustine and Ponte Vedra on Florida’s Historic Coast is an easy-to-reach destination. Plus, it offers a wide variety of
hotels, conference centers and meeting
venues that can accommodate from 10
to 1,500 attendees. Veteran meeting
professionals and catering teams at
these facilities are experts at working
with planners to meet each group’s exact
needs.
As the nation’s oldest city, St. Augustine boasts ancient brick streets where
horse-drawn carriages still travel.
Recently selected by TripAdvisor as one
of the top 15 U.S. destinations on the
rise for 2012, its past creates a lively and
exciting atmosphere featuring a unique
blend of historic hotels and charming
inns, living history museums, nightly
ghost tours, award-winning restaurants
and a bounty of unique shops and boutiques—all in an unforgettably beautiful
setting.
Florida’s historic coast is such a haven
for golfers that both the World Golf Hall
of Fame and the PGA Tour headquarters are located here. Among the area’s
exceptional courses are Sawgrass, home
to THE PLAYERS Championship and the
iconic 17th Island Green—the world’s
most recognized. The Renaissance
Resort and adjacent convention center feature two championship courses
at World Golf Village, while the AAA
Five-Diamond-rated Ponte Vedra Inn
and Club offers two of the game’s most
appealing courses.
There are also 42 miles of unspoiled
Atlantic beaches here—perfect for both
relaxation and stimulating fresh ideas.
Groups can also enjoy sailing adventures
aboard a schooner, sightseeing boat or
authentic pirate ship or head out to sea
for some chartered deep-sea fishing.
In St. Augustine and Ponte Vedra,
you’re met by history at every turn. But
you’re also ensured of finding meetings
success in a destination that offers planners a number of surprising advantages.
Discover a real gem of a setting for your
next meeting on Florida’s historic coast.
Visit floridashistoriccoast.com/meetings
to learn more about this enchanting
meetings destination.
SPECIAL ADVERTISEMENT 07.12
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ALL PHOTOS: STEVE CRECELIUS/WONDERWORKS PHOTOGRAPHY
Think Inside the Rocks
Islandic wanted to rise above the noise at the annual SnowSports
Industries of America conference to create a one-of-a-kind event
at which attendees could experience Denver.
YOU’RE ALWAYS IN SEARCH OF THE PERFECT
VENUE. You know, the one that has the perfect
atmosphere, sends the perfect message to your
attendees and fits perfectly within your budget.
You log thousands of miles previewing hotels,
convention centers and offsite entertainment
venues, countless hours on the phone lining up
vendors and hundreds of emails exchanged, all
to pull off the perfect event.
If you’re a looking to organize a perfect event
in Denver, look beyond the great indoors: go
outside and utilize the Great Plains, the Rocky
Mountains and the city’s extensive park system.
That’s exactly what Islandic, a Denver-based
BY KEVIN WOO
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winter sports equipment company, did for
this year’s SnowSports Industries of America
(SIA) trade show. Each year SIA attracts
30,000 winter sports enthusiasts from all
over the world, making the show one of the
largest and most important for ski equipment
and apparel vendors.
Islandic wanted to rise above the noise
at SIA and create a one-of-a-kind event at
which attendees could get outdoors, experience the beauty that surrounds Denver, check
out not-yet-released products and enjoy live
music. In short, Islandic wanted to create a
community within the larger SIA community.
For its event venue, Islandic chose the
crown jewel of the Denver park system, Red
Rocks Amphitheatre. Red Rocks is located
in Morrison, a suburb of Denver 20 miles
southwest of the city. Red Rocks isn’t the
area’s newest park (it’s been around for an estimated 250 million years) nor is it the most
modern (if you’re looking for plushy padded
seats that provide stellar back support, you’ll
be disappointed) but it is perfect…in many
ways.
Red Rocks sits at an altitude of 6,450
feet above sea level—approximately 1,200
feet higher than Denver—and gives visitors a
stunning 360-degree view of the Great Plains,
the Denver metro area and the Rocky Mountains. If you want to sell winter sports as lifestyle, there’s no better place to do it than Red
Rocks. The facility has a 30,000-square-foot
visitor center, which can be used for indoor
events, and a variety of other unique spaces
and outdoor plazas that can also be used for
smaller, more intimate gatherings.
But the real treasure of Red Rocks is its
9,450-seat amphitheater. To get a sense of
what it’s like, picture yourself sitting in the
middle of a giant Frisbee with the stage at
the lower end and two huge rock formations,
each about the size of a 30-story building,
behind you. The rock formations behind the
stage and those behind the audience create
the world’s only natural acoustically perfect
outdoor theater.
It’s because of this perfection that bands
such as the Beatles, U2 and The Moody Blues
chose the facility to record live albums. And
corporations such as Microsoft, Google,
Genentech and Merck have hosted private
events and concerts at Red Rocks, because
it’s unique and offers an outdoor musical experience that can’t be duplicated anywhere.
You might think that event planners
would be lined up at the thought of using
Red Rocks as a winter venue. Not so. Each
year, city park and recreation officials shut
down the facility in late-September for safety
reasons, citing the unpredictability of snow
and ice storms that can hit the area. But
event planners at Icelandic didn’t let a little
history get in its way. After all, Red Rocks
has been around for a quarter of a billion
years—what’s a few more when you’re trying
to convince city planners to let you organize
the perfect outdoor event?
Sam Warren, Islandic’s manager of promotions, says that he came up with the idea
for the SIA/Islandic event three years ago,
“When you look at Colorado and get a grasp
of what’s important to people here, the thing
that tops the list is being together with friends
and family in some of their favorite outdoor
settings, and Red Rocks is high on that list.
With that being said, we had been throwing
around the idea of opening Red Rocks in
winter for years. Over time, the pieces really
just started to fall in place to a point where
(everyone) figured, ‘Hey, let’s jump and we’ll
make this thing happen.’ We had support
from a community of folks who are passionate about the outdoors, lifestyle and music,
and when you put that together with one of
the most beautiful and iconic venues in the
but because the city owns and manages the
facility, he had to get city officials on board.
He was repeatedly told that opening Red
Rocks to 9,450 people, four bands and winter sports equipment vendors in the dead of
winter wasn’t going to happen because of the
potential liability.
Warren was determined to host an event
at Red Rocks and spent almost two years selecting the partners that Islandic wanted as
part of the event. His big coup was signing
with AEG Live, the world’s largest producer
of live entertainment, to manage the event.
The partnership with AEG Live helped convince the city that the impossible might be
possible.
“When I look at Colorado and what this
trade show is all about, it’s a lifestyle; it’s
about engaging people who are like-minded
in activities and experiences,” Warren said.
world and winter sports, the event was born
and was a huge success.”
The result, Warren says, was a microcosm of what the winter sporting lifestyle
in Colorado is all about. Islandic’s partners
created a vendor village on Red Rocks’ plaza
level where they displayed current and future model skis, poles and snowboards, gave
away samples and actively engaged in faceto-face discussions with customers to hear
first hand about changing consumer tastes.
But what really helped build the sense
of community was a 100-square-foot
fire pit erected in the middle of the plaza.
People from all over the world gathered
around, roasted marshmallows, had some
drinks and shared their love of winter sports.
And as if the party on the plaza wasn’t
enough, Islandic booked four bands to perform for the attendees. Even though the
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nighttime temperatures dipped to a chilly 22
degrees Fahrenheit, a few adult beverages, a
large bonfire and several hours of music kept
everyone warm.
Not every outdoor event in Denver needs
to be as grand as the Islandic one. According
to Jim Johnson of Denver’s Parks and Recreation Department, the city has five parks
that can be used for special events such as
weddings, fundraisers or private parties—
City Park Pavilion, Chief Hosa Lodge,
Central Park Pavilion, Washington Park
Boathouse and the Montclair Civic Building. Of the five, the City Park Pavilion, the
Central Park Pavilion, The Montclair Civic
Building and the Chief Hosa Lodge are well
suited for meetings that include some sort of
outdoor activity and are particularly conducive to group activities such as hikes or nature walks.
Johnson advises meeting planners to
shop around when looking for a venue and
to look for one that can accommodate both
indoor and outdoor sessions, because the
weather in Denver can be unpredictable, especially in the spring and fall.
He added that when organizing an event
in Denver it’s important to understand the
mindset of the area, especially if many of the
expected attendees are citizens of Denver.
“The type of people who come here to
live and work—a huge number of Colorado residents—have come here because of
the active outdoor lifestyle, the proximity
to the mountains, the huge amount of open
space, parks, biking and hiking trails,” Johnson said. “As a result, meeting and event
planners need to know their audience and
make accommodations for the participants’
natural desire for fresh air, beautiful views
and outdoor activities. The truly successful
[meeting planners] are those who are able
to integrate the appeal of the outdoors into
their programming and business needs.”
But before you get the idea that hosting
an outdoor event is merely about giving your
attendees a chance to stretch their legs and
get some fresh air, it’s important to know
that the use of parks also represents incremental revenue for cities. According to a
2010 report issued by The Trust for Public
Land, more than 700,000 out-of-towners
visit Denver annually specifically because of
its parks—either to attend a specific event at
a park, take in the park’s beauty or take part
in some sort of sporting activity. This translates to about US$33 million in additional
hotel revenue and an additional $3.1 million
in tax revenue for the city. So taking meet-
ings outside also has monetary benefits for
host cities such as Denver.
HIGH ALTITUDE TIPS
When planning an event in Denver, it’s important to remember that altitude can adversely
affect some. The effects of alcohol, for example, can be magnified when compared to
drinking at sea level, so planners should have
plenty of water on hand to counter-balance
alcohol’s diuretic effect and the natural dehydration that takes place at higher altitudes.
And if you’re thinking of hosting an event
at Red Rocks, be forewarned that it’s a bit of
a hike from the parking lot to the main plaza
area. The facility is wheelchair accessible, but
arrangements should be made in advance.
The bottom line is if you’re thinking
about Denver as your next meeting destination location, think outside the box, literally.
You just might find perfection.
KEVIN WOO is a frequent One+ contributor
who resides in California.
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ALL PHOTOS: MONTEGO BAY CONVENTION CENTER
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A Jewel Event
The 29th Caribbean Marketplace was a high stakes occasion for the newly
opened Montego Bay Convention Center in Jamaica.
B Y A R T E M I S S KO R D I L I
PIRATE SHIPS RULED THE WATERS OF THE CARIBBEAN SEA
IN THE EARLY 18TH CENTURY. Nowadays, the vessels you’re
likely to encounter are cruise boats carrying guests keen to
discover this earthly paradise, a place where the natural
beauty of sandy beaches and crystal-clear waters can be explored through the luxurious resorts competing with each
other in the range of facilities and quality services they can
offer customers.
Nestled in the Caribbean, the island of Jamaica is known
as its Queen, and Montego Bay, at its northwest corner, is its
second-largest city and most famous tourist destination, making it the true jewel of the Queen’s Crown.
The island, beyond the five-star services offered to leisure
tourists, can also boast of the new Montego Bay Convention
Center, located in Rose Hall, St. James. Officially opened in
2011, its world-class, high-tech and high-spec versatile facilities, with a clear goal of attracting international meetings,
conferences and events, enable Jamaica to play a leading role
not only in tourism, but also in the Caribbean’s meeting and
event industry.
“Historically, the local hotel community has done very
well in these sectors, but there were numerous events that
outgrew hotel ballrooms and were forced to look outside Jamaica,” said Gregg Caren, senior vice president of SMG, the
management company for the new center.
With the largest meeting space in the English-speaking
Caribbean coupled with being able to exploit one of the most
recognized destination brands globally, SMG is confident of
Jamaica’s potential to expand beyond its renowned leisure
and vacation image and break into the meetings business.
“Combine the wide variety of four- and five-star hotel
product offerings with the natural woods, stones and luxury
furnishings not often found in a full-service convention center,
and you find yourself managing a very marketable product,”
Caren said.
INNATELY INTERNATIONAL
The Montego Bay Convention Center was built as a complement to the luxurious hotels along the island’s “Elegant
Corridor.” Distinguished by its breathtaking views, the mix
of Jamaican and Asian architecture styles adds to its inherent
international appeal. Furthermore, the facility is purposely
built in a campus-like setting in order to allow attendees to
experience the inner sanctum as much as the outdoor serenity
of the venue and its surrounds.
“New construction venues are always exciting challenges,
often full of surprises,” Caren said. “Adding to the other
unique aspects of the Montego Bay Convention Center was
the collaboration between the Jamaican and Chinese governments in building this new landmark. The challenge of blending two cultures and languages on the construction site was
interesting. Given that we had 250 Chinese workers side by
side with Jamaicans, living in a dormitory setting, the construction itself was an exercise in international diplomacy.”
With this international collaboration to complete the
convention center expedited during the last few project plan
months—putting the finishing touches to the 132,000 square
feet of meeting, exhibition, ballroom and plenary space, all
just a 15-minute drive from Montego Bay’s Sangster International Airport—the 29th Caribbean Marketplace was a high
stakes occasion for the center and event organizer. A good
premiere could guarantee returns, a bad one might damage a
center’s reputation from the off.
DUAL BENEFITS OF CROSSOVER
With the curtain of the new center raised in January 2011
(the opening of Caribbean Marketplace), SMG witnessed the
empty shell transformed into a successful show floor buzzing
with exhibitors and participants. The Caribbean Hotel and
Tourism Association (CHTA), the event’s main organizer,
also witnessed their third-largest event participation of the
last decade, up 10 percent on 2010 figures, despite the global
financial crisis.
“The Caribbean has had only moderate growth in the past
few years because of the global economic downturn,” said
Vanessa Ledesma-Berrios, CHTA conferences and events director. “However, the region has been one of the few bright
spots, despite the continuing economic crisis across the world.
“The recession has actually spurred attendance, because
both the hoteliers and buyers saw this event as a way to circumvent the economic difficulties and an opportunity to drive
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business as a result of meetings at Marketplace.”
From the facility management perspective, Caren noted that Jamaica is still able to enjoy an extremely high visitation and occupancy
rate in leisure sectors that provides a strong—albeit seasonal—base
of business.
“This provides the crossover effect, of those who have enjoyed
Jamaica for a vacation or an incentive trip that see the upsides of
returning for business reasons,” Caren said. “Combine this with tremendous air lift for an island, and the value proposition is strong.”
The strength and advantage of this crossover effect is doubly reflected in the effectiveness of Jamaican organizations, long experienced in leisure tourism, in assisting the island’s first major event as
it sets out on its long meetings voyage.
“As for the inaugural event, credit really goes to the teams from
the Jamaica Hotel and Tourism Association and Jamaica Tourism
Board, who truly rallied local support and teams of volunteers and
corporate sponsors to make sure that the not-quite-completed venue
still worked,” Caren said.
The CHTA’s Ledesma-Berrios adds that the island benefited from
an excellent group of hospitality professionals who assisted in the
logistics and sub-committees, further reinforcing the important role
of local organization involvement.
THE BROAD HORIZONS OF THE CARIBBEAN
Caribbean Marketplace’s specific goal for 2011 was to continue to
open new avenues of cooperation for growth by providing the opportunities for a wide variety of companies to get together in one
place and discuss marketing plans for their destinations and hotels.
From event feedback, the organizers’ initiatives allied with the allure
of the destination, and the new center’s tech-spec, along with visitor
curiosity, ensured this goal was achieved.
“Many of these new initiatives revolve around utilizing new
social media outlets, such as Groupon,” Ledesma-Berrios said.
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“Other initiatives include more outreach to new potential destinations by courting buyers that have not previously attended
Marketplace.”
Through these channels of outreach, the show could attract
worldwide attention, resulting in new tour operators and wholesale
buyers attending the event, from countries such as Canada, Russia,
the U.K. and the U.S., fulfilling CHTA’s aim to expand their new
buyer outreach in order to increase the participants at Caribbean
Marketplace in the coming years.
“This may include non-traditional tour operators and wholesalers, especially now that the lines of distinction are becoming increasingly blurred as to what form a wholesaler takes,” Ledesma-Berrios
said.
Apart from initiatives taken by the organizers concerning the
development of the region, an important aspect of Caribbean Marketplace’s operations, which had an instant impact, was the programming of targeted appointments, totaling 11,880 and facilitated in the
center over the two-day event.
“Caribbean Marketplace has been successful because of the
smoothly executed, targeted computer appointment scheduling program that is similar to the protocol used by the U.S. Travel Association’s International PowWow that brings together buyers and sellers,
enabling requests to be matched for the mutual benefit of both parties,” Ledesma-Berrios said. “It’s a system that has worked well over
the past few years, creating thousands of successful appointments.”
To guarantee it also worked well this year, a team of veteran staff
worked in conjunction to assist participants with all necessary arrangements as they prepared to attend Marketplace, facilitating their
successful presence at the show.
“Some of the help available included assistance with booth selection and setup, understanding the appointment scheduling process
and maximizing attendance with business meetings and press conferences,” Ledesma-Berrios said.
MONTEGO BAY’S CONCENTRIC CIRCLES
Caribbean Marketplace 2011’s curtain fell to the murmur of satisfied
exhibitors and buyers acknowledging the success of the venue as a
place to conduct business and enjoy local hospitality.
One year after its launch, the full-service, first-class facility is already seeing bookings and added interest.
“As with all new convention centers we have inaugurated, there
is a common pattern to bookings,” Caren said. “In today’s environment, the larger, international clients really take a ‘call me when it’s
open’ approach, not wanting to risk any delays in construction or
changes in market conditions.
“So we find our business growing in concentric circles,” he continued. “It begins with strong national interest, spreading quickly to
the rest of the Caribbean, and now more inquiries from the U.S. and
Europe.”
Recognizing tourism as a key pillar of economic development in
the Caribbean, the Montego Bay Convention Center is a milestone
in the region’s meeting industry. Pirates no longer patrol these seas,
something that makes it easier for everyone to not only “Come to Jamaica and feel all right,” as the promotional Jamaican jingle likes to
sing, but now also to “Come to Jamaica and meet all right.”
ARTEMIS SKORDILI is a freelance journalist and TV reporter based in
Athens, Greece.
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CREDIT: THE OHIO CHANNEL
A Sticky Situation
More than 40,000 duct tape enthusiasts come to celebrate
the “other greatest tool” each year in Avon, Ohio.
B Y K I M B E R LY K I N G
Duct tape is like the force. It has a light side, a dark side,
and it holds the universe together.
— Carl Zwanzig
AN OLD ADAGE CLAIMS THAT THE WORLD’S
PROBLEMS CAN BE SOLVED WITH TWO
TOOLS: WD-40 TO MAKE THINGS GO
AND DUCT TAPE TO MAKE THEM STOP.
Everyone’s favorite industrial lubricant has
a variety of impressive uses (it was, after
all, invented to serve as a slick coating for
the outer skin of the SM-65 Atlas, the first
intercontinental ballistic missile deployed
by the U.S. Air Force), but duct tape reigns
supreme for its versatility and the sheer
volume of its applications.
Originally created by Johnson & Johnson
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during World War II to keep moisture out of
ammunition crates, the flexible, waterproof
adhesive—or “duck tape” as it was first
known (grammar sticklers will be surprised
to know that either moniker is valid)—soon
became helpful in fixing military vehicles
and weaponry. That was just the beginning.
Today, you’ll find the ubiquitous silver tape
on everything from super model cleavage to
airplane wings to horse hooves. (Perhaps
the only thing duct tape is not good for,
surprisingly, is repairing ducts, as a 1998
study determined.)
Called “The Other Greatest Tool Ever”
in 2006 by Forbes Magazine, people seem
fascinated by the tape’s adaptability and
how it has come to symbolize the world
of do-it-yourself projects. Tim Nyberg and
his brother-in-law Jim Berg, a.k.a. The
Duct Tape Guys, have sold more than three
million books and calendars opining their
love for duct tape and its many uses. A
quick look at Pinterest shows instructions
for duct tape wallets, book covers and
flowers, while Etsy sells shoes, furniture and
jewelry, all made of or covered by the tape,
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which is now available in a variety of colors
and patterns. While it may not yet have a
place in a standard first-aid kit, medical
experts occasionally recommend duct tape
as an appropriate treatment for certain types
of warts and even as a deterrent for frostbite.
The adhesive has grabbed some notable
headlines over the years—it was responsible
for helping out with not one, but two NASA
missions. It was used aboard 1972’s Apollo
17 to repair the fender of a lunar rover
wrecked by moondust and, more famously, it
was a literal lifesaver for the three astronauts
aboard Apollo 13 when it was used to
modify the carbon dioxide filter in the lunar
craft that served as their life boat.
STUCK ON THE DUCK
Thirty years after Johnson & Johnson first
modified medical tape for military purposes,
Jack Kahl, former CEO of Manco Inc.,
launched Duck Brand duct tape with the
help of a new mascot, Manco T. Duck. The
yellow duck in the green sash gave even
more personality and recognition to the
already popular commodity. To encourage
further creativity, Duck Brand began an
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A TAPE CELEBRATION
In 2004, Avon hosted the first annual Avon
Heritage Duct Tape Festival over Father’s
Day weekend.
“A lot of dads use duct tape,” said
Melanie Amato, director of advertising, in
an interview for the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
“Of course, a lot of moms do, too, but the
fact that it’s Father’s Day weekend, the focus
is on dads.”
It turns out that crafty fans like to party.
The festival had modest beginnings, but
today more than 40,000 enthusiasts from
all around the country come to celebrate
the sticky stuff. Featuring crafts, sculpture,
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safari-themed. Craft tents offered
instructions for designing one-ofa-kind safari gear, while the parade
featured an enormous duct tape
elephant. Local expert Outback
Ray brought some of his exotic
animals out for a show. Texas-based
artist Chance Foreman, who has
received national attention for his
duct tape portraits ranging from
John Lennon to Mother Theresa,
crafted an original work of art on
site. Thousands of fashion-conscious
fans took advantage of Duck Brand’s
new line of animal print tape and showed up
wearing outfits made entirely of the stuff.
Though there are festivals that celebrate
everything from food items to cartoon
characters, it seems unlikely that any other
hardware staple would garner as much
enthusiasm as duct tape has. Likely this is due
to a core fan base of plucky, positive people
who value ingenuity, customization, fixing
what’s broken and having fun while doing
it.
CREDIT: HELLO CLEVELAND
annual “Stick or Treat” contest
where entrants decorated pumpkins
with duct tape for a US$1,000
prize. “Stuck at Prom,” a $10,000
scholarship opportunity where high
school couples compete to create
and accessorize their prom wear
using duct tape, soon followed.
Duck’s headquarters in the
Cleveland suburb of Avon, Ohio,
soon became known as The Duct
Tape Capital of the World.
fashion and a parade at Veteran’s Memorial
Park, spend-thrift do-it-yourselfers are
pleased to note that the festival has and will
always be a free event (and the first 500
entrants receive a free roll of the namesake
each day).
Contributing to the popularity of duct
tape is its incredible ability to cross over into
other realms. Sports fans have long used duct
tape to show team spirit, so 2011’s theme,
Real Fans Stick Together, was a logical
choice. Visitors used duct tape to create sports
memorabilia such as pennants, pompoms
and megaphones. This year’s festival was
KIMBERLY KING is a frequent One+ contributor
and lives in New York.
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KEVIN HINTON began his career
in the hospitality industry in
operations at the Chicago Hilton
and Towers in the mid-1990s. Just
before Y2K, he went to work with
Dave Hinton (his father) and Bill
Grusich at hinton+grusich, a national sales organization. In 2011,
hinton+grusich was sold to Associated Luxury Hotels International,
where he currently heads up ALHI’s
global sales specialists team and is
growing the group’s international
membership among hotels and
convention bureaus.
He joined MPI in 2000 and has
served in a volunteer role since
then: chapter newsletter editor,
board member, president; chair of
the International Chapter Leadership Committee; and a member of
MPI’s international board of directors (since 2008).
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Grow Your
Engagement
Kevin Hinton, executive vice president of Associated Luxury
Hotels International, shares his big-picture plans for the coming
year as he steps into the role of chairman for MPI’s 2012-2013
international board of directors. B Y M I C H A E L P I N C H E R A
What are your goals as chairman for
the coming year of MPI?
We serve a diverse community and we are
all connected to MPI and each other in
unique ways. Each member derives value
differently and our biggest challenge is in
knowing how to deliver on our promise
to each and every member. As the largest
global community of meeting and event
professionals, MPI is uniquely positioned
to provide a voice for the business and
human value of meetings, and I’d like
us to be the ones telling our story rather
than having it told by outsiders.
We have a responsibility to help define a clearer message and will be developing talking points about why the meeting
industry is vital to every community and
how each meeting professional—planner
and supplier alike—has a role in getting
our message out so that we can continue
to bring people together in meaningful
ways to learn, connect and do business.
For our suppliers, we have to make
it easy to see MPI as a place they can
come to find business opportunities. Last
year, we had more planners than suppliers at the World Education Congress and
many were there for the first time. For
Associated Luxury Hotels International,
the hosted buyer program was extremely
valuable—we need to continue to deliver
superb member marketplace opportunities specifically to help our suppliers.
MPI’s 71 chapters and clubs are a
unique business that is the primary source
of engagement for our members. Our international board members have visited
more than 44 chapters in the last year
as part of the Chapter Connect program
and we are absolutely committed to continuing this open communication with
chapter leaders and members so that we
can support each chapter to thrive in its
community.
What are the biggest challenges
you see facing MPI and members
of the meeting industry?
Despite recent and compelling validation
of the importance and business value of
face-to-face meetings as well as the economic impact we create in communities
around the world, we still lack a strong
voice outside of the industry and we need
to change that. MPI can not only help
members become better advocates for
how their organizations grow through
meetings, but also collectively tell the
story of the meeting industry externally.
No longer can we laugh off “no one
in my family understands what I do”
comments. There are literally millions of
professionals working hard in a thriving
global meeting industry—why is that so
hard to understand? Again, we need to
change the dialogue.
Which MPI initiatives or endeavors
are you most interested in promoting
to meeting professionals?
I think that developing talking points for
members and chapter leaders will be extremely valuable so that we can engage
local government and business leaders as
well as meeting attendees in a meaningful dialogue around the value of meetings and how through the medium of
meetings we create economic impact and
change the world together.
MPI has developed a career landscape
that will be unveiled to offer all meeting
professionals a career path to help them
ascertain where they are and where they
want to go in this industry. There are
multiple steps with specific certifications
to support the required skills development for advancement including the
Global CMP. The skills a young planner
needs aren’t the same skills he or she will
need as a manager, which aren’t the same
skills needed as the individual moves into
a more strategic role later in his or her
career. The career landscape is designed
to help members more effectively and efficiently understand what skills they need
and how to go about gaining those skills.
This career landscape is part of a
greater goal to create a more cohesive
community, investing and supporting
individual chapters so they can thrive,
which makes the entire global community more successful, empowering MPI
and its members to increase their voice
and position in the global community of
professionals.
MICHAEL PINCHERA is editor, One+.
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FRAMING THE PRICING PICTURE: REVENUE, RISK AND REGISTRATION
The first of a three-part series, this article examines critical pricing
WRA
AIT
TH
considerations for meetings and events. BY MARIELAA MCILW
0 01
LET’S FACE IT: Between the economy, scandals and competition from free online communities, meeting professionals have had
a tough time as of late. While several systems conditions have changed, we continue
to rely on traditional pricing models, even
though these are not as effective as they
once were. In fact, the most frequently used
pricing strategies tend to restrict our ability
to be responsive to the marketplace. Some
of these common strategies include the following.
Break-even pricing. This type of pricing,
and its cousin cost-plus pricing (adding a set
profit to the break-even calculation), are effective for covering most costs, but they often overlook elements such as planning time
and overhead for the organization, so may
underestimate the full costs of producing an
event.
Anchored pricing. In this case, meeting
professionals can get trapped by what has
always been charged in the past, or by what
competitors are charging. If organizers opt
to do a price freeze one year, it becomes
very difficult to catch up again in the future. Also, competitors will match discounts
more readily than increases, creating a race
for the bottom.
The biggest challenge to both of these strategies is that they fail to recognize what the
event is worth to the participants. They also
only look at a very small part of the Total
Cost of Attendance (TCA) of events.
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Goals of an Effective Event
Pricing Strategy
1. Increase attendance and profit
2. Reduce financial risk for event producers
3. Increase confidence in the organization,
the event and the industry
4. Be resilient under any economic condition
INCREASING ATTENDANCE AND PROFIT
Meetings and events are about much more than profit. They
are also about extending the reach and mission of the organization, typically through education, networking and/
or fostering innovation. As such, pricing strategies must
take into account not only how to maximize profit, but also
how to maximize engagement and attendance. To achieve
these goals, meeting professionals need to offer exceptional
events with exceptional value. This involves looking at the
pricing elements that are within your control and other elements of the TCA that are simply within your sphere of
influence. Examples of these elements are the following.
1. Selecting event locations with a range of accommodation
price options.
2. Informing stakeholders about seat sales and other savings.
3. Negotiating public transit passes for attendees, reducing
travel costs and improving the event carbon footprint.
4. Providing affordable onsite childcare services.
2012
World Education Congress
July 28-31 • St. Louis, Missouri
Don’t miss your chance to learn more about strategic monetization with this education session at
MPI’s 2012 World Education Congress, July 28-31
in St. Louis!
Scaled-up Business: Monetizing the Digital
Extension of Face-to-Face Events
A digital extension can be a great way to expand the
reach of your physical event. But are you getting the
revenue that you should from this element of your association’s portfolio? Join a pioneer in the digital extension
of meetings and events as he discusses best practices
for covering the costs of digitally extending an event and
methods for building significant profit over time.
Visit www.mpiweb.org/wec for complete details and to
register.
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All of these help contribute to general affordability of meetings and events beyond registration fees. They also signal to
potential attendees that you’re committed to making their
attendance possible.
REDUCING FINANCIAL RISK
Even when events are profitable, meeting and event professionals may have issues related to cash flow and uncertainty about expected attendance. If most registration revenue doesn’t come in until a few weeks before the event,
meeting professionals could be unable to pay deposits.
Uncertainty about expected attendance can also lead to
difficulty in securing sponsors or exhibitors who want to
be confident that registration targets will be met. Finally,
it also means that event organizers don’t have access to
high-quality information to make important decisions,
such as modifications to room blocks. Urging delegates to
register and properly collaborating with partners are two
key ways in which planners can enhance cash flow earlier
in the process.
The secret weapon for bringing in revenues earlier is to
ensure the event experience starts when people register, not
when they arrive at the event. Not only does this provide
financial security, it increases engagement with your participants. Consider adding elements such as a pre-conference
networking component, the ability to help select speakers,
opportunities to co-create sessions and even special challenges as part of an event game-based strategy. (The second
article in this series will explore additional pricing strategies, including alternatives to early bird pricing, to increase
this sense of urgency.)
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In an effort to enhance collaboration between planners
and their partners, particularly venues and hotels, consider
these four possibilities.
1. Align registration and deposit milestones to match one
another so that quality information is available with sufficient time to respond.
2. Match discount types (students, members, etc.) to encourage staying within the room block.
3. Minimize “free rider” and attrition risks by not linking
costs of meeting space to room block pickup. This generally results in lower hotel rates, increasing pickup, and it
distributes the cost of the meeting space to all attendees,
including locals and those staying off property.
thing that is valued, ask yourself what it is worth to your
delegates, as opposed to what it costs you to produce.
Deliver on the pricing promise. When we put a price on
something, we are telling the world that it is worth that
amount. Make sure that you deliver on that promise. We
also need to keep in mind the importance of earning the
public’s trust, and we can do this by being responsible in
our event design.
BE RESILIENT UNDER ANY ECONOMIC
CONDITION
The true test of resilience: Would your attendees pay out
of their own pockets to attend your event? While we know
DIRECT (US$)
INCREASE CONFIDENCE IN THE ORGANIZATION,
THE EVENT AND THE INDUSTRY
From the AIG effect to Muffingate to the more recent GSA
scandal, it’s safe to say that there is intense scrutiny on our
industry when it comes to pricing. As an industry, we have
a responsibility to ensure transparency in what we charge.
To that end, there are valuable strategies that can help increase confidence in the organization, event and industry.
Redesign budgets to align with strategy. I recommend
starting every budget from scratch. Ask yourself if every
item contributes to the mission, and if it is something delegates value enough to pay more for as part of the registration fee. If not, eliminate it from the budget. If it is some-
July Pricing Primer_feature.indd 64
TOTAL (US$)
Canada
$32.1B
$71.2B
Mexico
$18.1B
$32.5B
U.S.A.
$263B
$907B
Sources: www.mpiweb.org/Education/Research/CEIS, http://cestur.
sectur.gob.mx, www.meetingsmeanbusiness.com
6/22/12 2:49 PM
that meetings and events are major economic contributors,
we also recognize that they are vulnerable to economic conditions. In recent years, exceptional research studies have
been able to quantify the value of the meeting industry in
Canada, Mexico and the U.S. (see sidebar).
Recognizing the symbiotic relationship between the
meeting industry and the economy means there’s a responsibility to adapt events to greater resilience. We can do this
through a variety of means.
Design events so that demand increases in tough
economic times. Economists refer to products as being
“inferior” when the demand increases during times in
which income is constricted. In our current situation, this
doesn’t mean planning bad meetings, it means introducing elements such as job fairs, solution centers and ways
for participants to improve their organizations with a
positive short-term ROI and, importantly, sustainable
long-term ROI.
Add a hybrid or convertible hybrid element to your
meeting. Hybrid meetings help reduce dependence on
travel, increase affordability and engage a broader range
of attendees. They can, however, be costly to produce and
tend to have late registrations. To ensure that you have
sufficient participation to make it worthwhile, consider
having a “tipping point” minimum registration number
that you can promote through social media and ask your
community to help you reach that point by a target date.
You can also introduce a convertible hybrid registration
July Pricing Primer_feature.indd 65
THE SECOND INSTALLMENT OF THIS
PRICING SERIES IS COMING YOUR
WAY IN THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE OF
ONE+, IN PRINT AND ONLINE AT
WWW.M
MPIO
ONEP
PLU
US.O
ORG.
category that allows early birds to switch their hybrid
registration to a live registration at the early-bird rate up
to the point where you need to guarantee your variable
expenses.
THE FUTURE OF PRICING
Public pressure for transparency, the need for meetings to
be successful and technological developments with registration systems are all driving the transformation of pricing
strategies. In the coming years, we’ll see greater emphasis
on dynamic pricing for all components of the TCA. I also
expect that we’ll see a shift to better collaboration between
planners and suppliers and a refocus on the basics: ethics,
influence and outcomes for meetings and events.
MARIELA MCILWRAITH, CMP, CMM, is president of Meeting Change,
specializing in business strategy, economics and CSR. Mariela is actively
involved in community projects and is co-writing a textbook on CSR and
ethics in the meeting industry. Follow her tweets @meetingchange.
6/22/12 2:49 PM
SMALLER +
REGIONAL =
BETTER?
BY R OW L A N D S T I T E L E R
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The case for regional meetings makes
more (smaller) meetings a better fit for
the bottom line than a
singular large event.
One of the most profound
changes that a nationwide
U.S. auto service franchise company is making
to its key annual meeting
is to eliminate the meeting.
The annual national franchise
holder meeting just won’t happen
in 2012. That’s with the advice and
consent of Mark Lorimer, CMP, an
independent California meeting
and event planner whose
group has represented
the franchise company for years.
This big change
doesn’t mean the
company is abandoning the concept
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of face-to-face communications with its
most important constituency—its franchise holders. If fact, the company has
adopted a new strategy consisting of
smaller, regional meetings that will not
only increase in-person interaction with
the franchise holders, but also do something else very important in these economic times: save a lot of money.
“The company is going to save
between 20 percent and 25 percent by
having three consecutive regional meetings in three locations around the U.S.
instead of one big meeting that always
involves significant airfare expenses and
travel time for attendees who don’t happen to live and work near the meeting
site,” said Lorimer, conference planner
for the Eventive Group and past president
of the MPI Orange County Chapter.
“Airfare is a considerable expense
these days, and many companies are
looking at the manner in which they hold
their important meetings as a way to save
significant amounts of money and still
achieve their meeting goals,” he said.
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Going to what Lorimer calls “a wellorganized road show,” in which executives of the corporation travel to the
regional meetings, not only saves big
dollars on airfare—it is saving on hotel
room nights as well, because attendees at
the three regional meetings, who will be
flying shorter distances and in some cases
driving, will just need two to three room
nights instead of three to four.
“So in this case it becomes less expensive to hold three 200-attendee meetings
in a row instead of one 600-attendee
event,” Lorimer said. “And because the
size of the hotel needed for those regional
meetings is smaller, it increases the number of hotels we can consider, and it allows
us to look at second-tier cities that don’t
necessarily have 600-room conference
hotels as possible meeting destinations.”
The efficacy of smaller, regional meetings instead of larger annual, national or
global meetings is gaining traction with
corporations all over the world, according to a cross section of corporate and
trade association meeting planners.
“I have major clients in the financial
services industry and in the automotive industry, two sectors that have been
doing regional meetings for a long time,
and that have also been among the industry sectors most challenged by tough economic times,” said Toronto-based planner
Kari Ann Larsen of Dragonfly Meeting
Solutions. “And currently, companies in
these sectors are taking a very close look
at how they can fine tune regional meetings to achieve maximum impact and get
the best value possible from their meeting
budgets.
Larsen says that while the automotive industry is largely tied to centralized,
national meetings for key functions such
as new-model rollouts, it can certainly
benefit from regional meetings for purposes such as employee training. The
shorter distance employees have to travel,
she notes, the less time they have to spend
away from their jobs, where they are generating revenue for their companies.
And the banking sector, Larsen says,
has long been attuned to the value of
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You really can’t over-emphasize how important and very
much appreciated it is when corporate leaders come out
into the communities and spend time on face-to-face
communication with the rank-and-file workers.
investing in communities throughout
their service areas by holding meetings in
those communities.
“It’s appreciated within those communities as a contribution to the local
economy,” she said.
Among independent corporate meeting planners in North America, few
would have a better perspective on
regional meetings than Renee Ramo,
who recently hung out her shingle as
an independent after spending 16 years
planning meetings for True Value hardware, where regional meetings are an
essential part of the corporate culture.
“You really can’t over-emphasize
how important and very much appreciated it is when corporate leaders come
out into the communities and spend time
on face-to-face communication with the
rank-and-file workers,” she said. “While
if you have the budget, you can certainly
bring rank-and-file workers into a giant
corporate meeting, you can’t achieve the
intimacy of the comfortable, communication-friendly atmosphere you get
in smaller meetings. I have seen it over
and over again, year after year, people
just feel more valued by the corporation
when its leaders are willing to come and
talk to them in person.”
Global, Yet Regional
The regional meetings phenomenon that
has evolved over the past few years is by
no means limited to creating regions of
states, provinces or even countries.
Suzanne Schlanger, CMP, managing
director and co-owner of Los Angelesbased The SK Group Inc., which handles
a large, international meeting clientele,
says that even in terms of global companies and trade associations whose
meetings attract attendees from all over
the world, costs have driven a certain
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Calculating ROI
on Regional Meetings and Trade Shows
H
ow does a planner effectively show ROI for a
regional meeting versus a national or global meeting before the event occurs? It’s really a relatively
simple undertaking, according to those who are experienced at it.
“It all actually just comes down to dollars,” said Brian
Stevens, president and CEO of ConferenceDirect, a
worldwide meeting and event company. “It’s simply the
spreadsheet approach.”
But the key, Stevens says, is that less-than-savvy
planners don’t always know what to include on the cost
spreadsheet.
“Planners have become really good at being aware
of the fact that if you hold your meeting in Orlando, your
coffee and muffin costs will be about half what they are in
New York,” he said. “But what they fail to calculate into the
equation with those muffins is total cost—not just room
nights and airfare, but the cost you generate by having
high-paid employees spend two days instead of one on
an airplane to get to and from the meeting destination.
Time is money, and planners who know how to calculate that can increase their standing with their corporate
stakeholders.”
And sometimes it’s the really savvy planners who can
project the anticipated ROI of an event based on the
experience gained when other corporations chose similar
strategies to what a client is considering, according to
Tracy Stuckrath, CSEP, CMM, CHC, president and chief
connecting officer of Thrive! Meetings & Events.
Stuckrath cites the example of a Georgia-based carpet
manufacturer.
“They dropped out of the biggest national carpeting
trade show because they felt it was not really producing
buyers for them, and elected to go all over the country
with their own regional trade shows in the specific locations of their existing customers,” Stuckrath said. “That
move cost them around $1 million more a year than before,
but they say it also paid off with a tenfold increase in sales.
It’s a good example of how a bold regionalization plan that
has a vision can really reap rewards.”
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If your meetings can be conducted
by a tight road crew of 20 corporate
people and you want to reach
an audience of 5,000 people, the
airfare alone makes it more cost
efficient to move that road crew to
three different places than to ask
your 5,000 attendees from all over
the continent to one place.
Regional Meetings Feature 0712.indd 72
amount of regionalization.
“When you mention regions, I think of
Europe, North America and Asia, as opposed
to regions within the U.S.,” she said. “Because
among some of my clients I have seen a certain amount of regionalization in which the
regions actually involve multiple countries,
but all in the same area of the world.”
Schlanger cites the case of a tech trade
association that has been doing 90 meetings per year all over the world, and recently
regionalized itself into groups of companies in
North America, Europe and Asia, now holding 30 meetings a year in each region, with
companies in each of those regions forming a
consortium to fund those meetings.
“Those companies have found that they
could achieve considerable savings in airfare
and executive travel time by regionalizing
their meetings in that manner,” she said.
In the U.S., the consortium has started
bundling meetings that are in a specific time
frame and holding them consecutively in one
location—a kind of centralization of the bigger picture regionalization, Schlanger says.
That practice provides an economy of scale
6/22/12 2:35 PM
by which cost savings can be achieved on
hotel rooms, for instance, when a larger
number of room nights at one hotel are
being consumed than if the two “bundled”
meetings were being held in two different
locations.
“It becomes something of the best of
both worlds,” she said, “achieving the
costs savings of regionalization of the
meetings, but then within those regions
achieving other cost savings that can be
achieved through the bargaining power
that comes with consolidation.”
Planner Jennifer Altman, president of
Corporate Event Consultants Inc., had a
similar experience dividing the world into
regions for customer summits for a U.S.based international technology company
that is her client.
“This really came straight from the
feedback from the global summit the year
before,” she said. “Customers’ evaluation
forms showed that they wanted to spend
more time communicating with the company’s executives and its engineers, who can
best explain how to use their products.”
So Altman recommended that the company divide the world into regions for the
2012 customer summit process, holding a
meeting in Miami for the North and South
American customers, a meeting in Vienna
that would combine European and Middle
Eastern regions and in Bangkok for Asian
customers.
“I was initially concerned that the
company might be averse to all the travel
that would be involved in having meetings around the world,” she said. “But
their customers far prefer traveling shorter
distances, and they really liked an atmosphere where the company executives
could best explain how their products
applied to specific, regional usages, so the
multiple meetings concept worked out as a
great success.”
Brian Stevens, president and CEO of
ConferenceDirect, a company that plans
and conducts 8,000 worldwide meetings
each year, says regional meetings are a
good solution for a lot of companies interested in reducing total meeting cost, but
not necessarily a perfect fit for everyone.
“A key variable is just how much
money your top executives earn, and if it
is cost efficient to send them to three meetings in three regions based on what their
time is worth,” he said. “If your meetings
can be conducted by a tight road crew
of 20 corporate people and you want to
reach an audience of 5,000 people, the
airfare alone makes it more cost efficient
to move that road crew to three different
places than to ask your 5,000 attendees
from all over the continent to one place.
But there are exceptions—we have one client whose CEO earns more money than
some entire countries. Because of the value
of his time, it becomes more cost efficient
to have him go to one place and let the
attendees come to him.”
One rule Stevens has learned over the
years about meetings in general: Most
attendees want the meeting destination to
be close to them, no matter their salary.
ROWLAND STITELER is a regular contributor to
One+.
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FINDING
FISCAL
FRIENDS
The SEO of securing
sponsorships in tough
times: specificity,
exclusivity and originality.
BY ELAINE POFELDT
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W
hen the Association of Residential Cleaning Services International (ARCSI) looked
for a company to sponsor its
annual meeting—part of the
ISSA/INTERCLEAN Las Vegas 2011 trade show in October—no one was beating
down the door, according to Derek Christian, volunteer
vendor relations chair for the group.
“The premier, top-level sponsorship didn’t sell,”
Christian said.
That didn’t mean the show was a wash for his group.
Indeed, the association took in almost double the amount
of sponsorship money from the previous year. The ARCSI
teams up with two other cleaning industry groups to hold
the larger event, which attracts about 15,000 attendees.
“Sponsors showed up at the same dollar level, but
sponsored a lot of little things,” Christian said.
For instance, there was great demand for sponsorships
of gift bags, roundtable discussions and awards. And a
bidding war broke out over sponsorship of the members
lounge. The winning sponsor, Clean Team, got the exclusive right to set up a table in this gathering spot, where
its representatives offered samples of its cleaning supplies
and talked with attendees one-on-one.
“They were looking for things that had a much more
direct ROI,” Christian said.
He understood their point of view. He owns a cleaning
business in Cincinnati and Dallas, following a career at
Procter & Gamble.
“I know what they want,” he said. “They want people
in their booth. They want people trying their product. All
of our sponsorship opportunities were tied to that.”
After a few disappointing years, there’s some good
news for organizers selling sponsorships these days.
Sponsorship spending is up around the world, according
to IEG Consulting, a Chicago firm that tracks this information. Spending by North American companies grew
3.9 percent in 2010 to US$17.2 billion. Globally, spending on sponsorships rose by 5.2 percent to $46.3 billion.
But as the ARCSI discovered, the sponsorship landscape remains considerably different from what it was
before the global financial crisis. Many sponsors are
watching their budgets closely—and when they do spend,
they’re continually evaluating how well their efforts are
helping them to achieve company goals.
“It’s a combination of the economy and recognizing
that some of the old ways we used to market don’t work
as well as they used to,” said Shannon Cherry, a marketer who advises businesses on promoting themselves at
events and teaches an online course called Sponsorships
Made Simple.
Indeed, corporations are increasingly demanding the
kind of one-on-one contact that translates into sales, conversions of prospects into customers and media exposure
they can track. Otherwise, they’re likely to walk away
from the table.
“Everybody has, since the recession, looked at everything in their budget and started to weed out things that
aren’t really delivering an ROI,” said Gail S. Bower, president of Bower Consulting, a firm that advises nonprofit
organizations on raising their profile, and author of the
book How to Jump-Start Your Sponsorship Strategy in
Tough Times.
One reason, notes Bower, is that many sponsors are
facing shorter sales cycles in concert with greater difficulty in reaching prospects by phone and email in a crowded
marketplace. As a result, sponsors are looking for events
that will help them cut through the clutter and reach
these prospects.
“The sponsorship program needs to generate clear results and have some pretty solid outcomes,” Bower said.
“[Corporations] want to partner with organizations with
which they can make a difference and make money for
their investment.”
Addressing these needs can require a lot of creative
thinking by organizers. However, there’s a silver lining.
Sponsors are willing to pay well for what they want.
“Sponsorship pricing is based on value,” Bower said.
“The stronger the value, the more the sponsor is willing
to pay.”
After a few disappointing years,
there’s some good news for
organizers selling sponsorships
these days. Sponsorship
spending is up around the world.
Closing the Deal: 2012
One essential way to close deals with sponsors now is
to offer category exclusivity on options that provide the
ability to reach small subgroups of attendees at an event
in meaningful and memorable ways.
“We’re a very segmented society now,” Cherry said.
“They want to be in front of a specific niche.”
That may mean they want to reach everyone at a conference who uses Facebook or all of the folks who happen to be mothers, so it’s important for organizers to be
able to deliver options like this, she says.
Once they’ve secured such opportunities, more sponsors are looking for chances to send representatives to
speak directly with attendees in a setting they may not
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Being willing to customize
sponsorship options in this new
environment is essential.
Sponsors expect organizers to
be ready to slice and dice their
offerings to meet their specific
goals in a more collaborative
way than ever before.
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have tried before, such as lounges, private lunches or a
single discrete presentation at the event.
“Sponsors are going to be investing in more intimate
spaces,” Cherry said.
That holds true for the ARCSI—the association sold
its largest sponsorship to Moody Insurance, for an individual speech on customer service by an executive from
online shoe retailer Zappos, by offering a deal in which
Moody first got to talk with attendees individually.
“Our members had to get a ticket from their booth on
the trade show floor,” Christian said.
Many sponsors want direct contact with attendees
that continues after the event is over. Cherry says some
sponsors, for instance, appreciate the opportunity to
have attendees complete brief pre-event and post-event
surveys, to measure what attendees have learned about
their company.
“Here is where technology is great,” she said.
Sponsors are also expecting organizers to give them
exposure outside of the immediate world of the event.
That’s helped to sell sponsorships at Nolcha Fashion
Week New York, an event that showcases up-and-coming
fashion designers, according to Arthur Mandel, president
of Nolcha—the company that runs it.
When Mandel approaches sponsors, he offers them
traditional options such as having their names on VIP
goodie bags and giving out product samples, in addition
to putting their logo on the pressboard that serves as a
backdrop for photo shoots. But, on top of this, he does
the legwork to make sure the event is well attended by
journalists and fashion bloggers and has arranged coverage by its media partner, the celebrity-centric cable network VH1. Result: The show, going into its sixth year,
has attracted sponsors such as American Airlines, Glaceau vitaminwater and Vitabath, he says. The show typically sells seven or eight sponsorships in the $15,000 to
$25,000 range.
“It’s very important for sponsors to meet people who
are going to write about their products,” Mandel said.
Many sponsors track the media mentions and online
readership that result—and share that information with
him, he says.
Also essential to sponsors is being able to reach the
community around an event through its social media
channels.
“Sponsors definitely want more of an online presence,” Mandel said.
To that end, he has built a combined following of
about 20,000 people on Facebook and Twitter—and,
along with event information, he tweets information
about sponsors to this group that consists mainly of those
in the fashion industry.
“They influence so many others,” Mandel said.
Being willing to customize sponsorship options in this
new environment is, of course, essential. Sponsors expect
organizers to be ready to slice and dice their offerings to
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Gone are the days when organizers can offer the gold, silver and
bronze packages... It’s not a onesided approach, it’s got to be a
two-way street.
meet their specific goals in a far more collaborative way than
ever before.
“Gone are the days when [organizers] can offer the gold,
silver and bronze packages,” Bower said.
Today, the focus has to be on what the event producer and
sponsor can co-create together to help the sponsor achieve its
business goals, she says.
“It’s not a one-sided approach,” Bower said. “It’s got to be
a two-way street.”
Mandel says that even when working with the largest corporations, he cultivates a very close relationship with frequent
phone conversations.
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“You treat them almost like a family business, like a family
pharmacy,” he advised.
Customization has worked well for the Simmons Leadership Conference, an April event that has attracted sponsors
such as Goldman Sachs, Novartis and HP, according to Nancy
G. Leeser, corporate relations officer for Boston-based Simmons College. For instance, while many sponsors respond
well to offers of tickets to the 2,500-attendee conference for
their employees, some find that they must limit the number of
in-person attendees because of tight travel budgets.
“They send employees to the conference but can’t send
everyone,” Leeser explained.
For the two top levels of sponsors, Simmons has, for the
past two years, offered the option of having their employees
back at the office attend the event virtually via live streaming
or with an on-demand webcast available for 60 days.
“They really like that benefit,” Leeser said.
And for Simmons College, being accommodating pays off
in more than sponsorship dollars. Many of the attendees come
from sponsoring companies. And at the last event, sponsorship opportunities were sold out.
ELAINE POFELDT is a former senior editor for FORTUNE Small Business
and a regular contributor to One+.
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IDEAS
NEED
AN
EVANGELIST.
MEET
LAKSHMI.
HOW ONE WOMAN IS BRINGING THE POWER
OF THE IDEA-FEST TO INDIA. BY KAVITHA RAO
PHOTOS BY NAMAS BHOJANI
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“I remember my father telling me, ‘You belong in front of
people. What are you doing to bring the world’s biggest and
richest democracy together?’”
That comment prompted Lakshmi Pratury to give up a highly successful career with
Intel and eventually dive into the uncertain world of event organization in India.
“I realized that the thing I do best is tell a story and use other people to tell stories,”
Pratury says.
Today, the former TED host runs the INK Conference, a pioneering annual event
in India, which aims to showcase innovators from India and the U.S.
Now in its second year, INK (representing “innovation and
knowledge”) has featured speakers as impressive and diverse as film director James Cameron, Creative Commons chairman Joi Ito and Wired founder Kevin Kelly.
Along with those big names, there are also unsung
heroes from throughout India, such as the world’s
youngest headmaster Babar Ali, Facebook’s first
female engineer Ruchi Sanghvi and Arunachalam Muruganathan, inventor of low-cost sanitary napkins for poor women.
Idea fests such as TED, SXSW and INK
are a new concept for India. Fittingly, Pratury
has been a pioneer most
of her life. Growing
up in Hyderabad,
Pratury went on
to enter one of the
most sought-after
institutions in the
country—the
Indian Institute
of Technology—
for a masters in
mathematics, an
unusual choice for a
woman “back then.”
But after a year,
she dropped out
and pursued a management degree instead.
Then she went on to attain
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PRATURY’S
TOP TIPS
FOR EVENT
PLANNERS
a second management degree from the
University of Portland in Oregon, minoring in theater arts. Helping backstage, she
discovered a passion for events.
“I completely fell in love with the
American way of life,” she says. “For the
first time, nobody was telling me I talked
too much.”
DISCOVERING EVENTS
A series of unsatisfying jobs followed.
Then came a 12-year stint at Intel. Pratury
was one of the people behind the phenomenally successful “Intel Inside” marketing
campaign, launched in 1991.
“I grew up in the corridors of Intel,”
Pratury says. “Every week, I was in a different city, pitching products, running
road shows and working with developers.
Intel taught me so much, because they had
truly mastered the whole event space.”
She also discovered her love for new
ideas by attending early TED talks in California.
However, by 1999, Pratury wanted to
do something to bring India and the U.S.
closer together.
“My father passed away in 1997, and
then Andy Grove retired as CEO of Intel,”
she says. “I felt that things were coming to
a natural end, but I didn’t know what to
do next. Leaving Intel was the hardest decision I have ever made. I could have made
VP if I had stayed.”
For the next decade, Pratury worked
with several Indo-U.S. ventures, including
non-profit The American Indian Foundation, which brought digital education to
more than 80,000 rural Indian children.
But she continued to be driven by a deep
desire to bring the emerging “new” India to the world. She calls herself an idea
evangelist and believes that innovative
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ideas have the power to transform India.
“The thing that always annoyed me
was that outside of India, or even in India,
the story is very skewed,” she says. “Most
events show only a tiny sliver of the India
picture. Yes, there is tremendous adversity,
but there are amazing innovations, too. I
wanted to encourage them.”
After co-hosting TED’s inaugural India event in 2009, Pratury struck out on
her own. The following year, she launched
the INK Conference with funding from 20
close friends and associates.
BEING A PIONEER
Starting from scratch isn’t easy in a young
economy unused to idea fests, Pratury admits.
“The biggest challenge is that people
are looking for immediate results,” she
says. “People say, ‘If I come to the conference, will I meet my future funder?’ We
tell them: You have to learn to pay for an
experience.”
The charge for the four-day INK
Conference is about US$1,900, a sum
some argue is too steep. The concern is
that this makes for an elitist audience.
But, as Pratury points out, INK makes
talks public on YouTube or via free
DVDs only days after the conference.
“We are taking money from the people who can afford it, and spreading good
ideas to the people who can’t,” she says.
“We are not apologetic about the price.
There are people who would spend that
money on jewelry; we ask them to spend
it on being inspired!”
Another challenge is that many of
the audience members are leaders in their
fields and most, she says, are used to talking (not listening) and attend think fests
only when they are the speakers.
1. Events are a team effort. It is very important
to have people of diverse disciplines—strategy, creativity and operations are equal essentials in a team.
2. Maintain a checklist of individual activities
and add to it as you experience new problems and
come up with solutions. You’ll never know everything.
A checklist is a continuous learning process.
3. Everyone—right up to the last person
laying wires—needs to know the purpose
of the event. I’ve always found it useful to gather
the entire crew for a briefing before the event, during
which time I explain what we are trying to accomplish.
4. If you are doing the event in a country
unfamiliar to you, it is important to have a senior
person from that country as the leading partner or
host of the event along with you. They need to own it
as much as you.
5. Have a backup plan for everything. This
includes infrastructure such as generators and
people (back-up speakers/performers, volunteers
and staff). Providing a safe environment is paramount. Pay attention to details such as making sure
the emergency exits are marked and visible, and brief
the entire staff about emergency procedures. Verify
the availability of medical help and inform the local
police and fire department about large events so that
they’ll be better prepared for emergencies.
Even if you take into account all the above
and more, something can always go wrong. It’s
important to remain calm and surround yourself
with a great team.
“My premise is: When you are really
successful, where do you learn? Here is
where you come. Everyone here is of a certain stature, so there won’t be 100 people
chasing you to ask for a job.”
Pratury concedes that it’s a constant
challenge to keep the buzz going.
“It’s not a product that you can count
and say you sold 100,000 copies,” she
says. “Venture capital firms don’t come
and offer us millions in funding. Evangelizing ideas is a long-term process.”
There’s some concern that a poor
country such as India should be focusing on needs beyond idea fests. Consider that for a moment.
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“People [had the same concern] when
I was trying to bring computers to rural
schoolchildren,” Pratury says. “Now everyone realizes the importance of computers in education. If India wants to be a
superpower 15 years from now, we need
to begin with curating an environment
where innovative ideas happen.”
MAKING IT WORK
How does Pratury manage to get figures
as disparate as designer Philippe Starck
and The Simpsons creator Matt Groening
to come to India? It all depends on relationships and nurturing old ties.
“I call myself a collector of people,
but not with any particular intention, just
people I like,” she admits. “I still keep in
touch with people I worked with 20 years
ago. I think it really helped that in my
years at Intel, I worked in so many different departments.”
Conferences such as INK go beyond
celebrity involvement; they’re built on
many tiny details.
“It’s often about the things you don’t
see and the people you don’t notice,”
Pratury says. “It’s about the guy who
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greets you when you walk in, the directions to rooms and the people who create
the stage.”
The INK audience is restricted to
just 300 delegates and Pratury selects the
speakers through a variety of strategies,
relying on recommendations from friends,
watching YouTube videos and striving for
a mix of celebrities and ordinary people.
WHEN THINGS GO WRONG
“Every event has a break-down point,”
Pratury says.
While organizing her first INK Conference near Pune, India, she had trouble
from local environmentalists. With only
two weeks until the conference, a green
activist alleged that the event site Pratury
selected displaced local tribal people. The
activist threatened to block roads and go
on a hunger strike—and wrote to every
speaker telling them not to come.
“I was sobbing on the phone to
James Cameron, and told him exactly
what might happen. James said, ‘Because you have been so honest with me,
I am coming.’”
Pratury kept her cool. She put aside
a space for activists to protest peacefully,
but also hired security to make sure they
didn’t disrupt the event. Eventually, all
went well.
FUTURE PLANS
Pratury hopes that INK will influence
young people to think innovatively in
the future. Meanwhile, she continues
to be driven by the transforming power
of the idea. At TED in 2009, activist
Sunitha Krishnan talked about her antitrafficking organization Prajwala, which
was in desperate need of funds to build
a home for victims of sex trafficking. A
Google executive in the audience was
moved and the tech giant gave Prajwala
US$100,000.
“In the new India, the curators of
ideas are going to be very important,”
Pratury says. “If I can influence the influencer, we can make a profit and do
good, too.”
KAVITHA RAO is a freelance writer based in
Mumbai. She previously profiled corporate
mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik for the February
2010 issue of One+.
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>
YOUR COMMUNITY
Bruce MacMillan Leaves MPI
MPI President and CEO Bruce MacMillan, C.A., elected not
to renew his current employment agreement, which ended
June 30, 2012.
eam modernized
Under MacMillan’s leadership, the MPI team
and globalized its membership and chapter models, reinvented its relationship with the MPI Foundation
ion to support
the development of authoritative content, redesigned
designed
live events and online experiences and introduced
uced
a Global Training practice with a portfolio off
certifications and relevant training.
MPI COO Cindy D’Aoust will lead the
association’s Dallas-based headquarters as
interim chief staff executive. Prior to joining
MPI, D’Aoust was vice president of shared
services at Maxvantage, the strategic
alliance between Maritz Travel Company
and American Express. She is a long-time
member of MPI’s community and brings 20
years of organizational management to MPI.
July Webinars
Don’t miss out on these opportunities for highlevel education this month. Visit MPIWeb.org/
education to learn more and to register.
July 10: The Business Value of Meetings study.
MPI’s Miranda van Brück and Jessie States will
present a live demo on how to navigate through
all of the information offered in the study, and
will include some suggestions for how to optimize
your use of the toolkits.
July 12: “Using Webinars to Engage Prospects”
with Ken Molay, president of Webinar Success.
Marketing webinars can build sales leads and
generate enthusiasm for your products and services—but only if you work effectively with your
audience. The alternative is an event that drives
potential customers away. Learn the tricks of effective marketing presentations in this session.
July 18: “The Magic Formula for Engaging Attendees Year-Round” with Brianna Haag, SF Event
Evangelist. The strategies to engage attendees,
increase registrations and get the most from your
event aren’t what they used to be. So, instead of
fighting it, go with it. During this webinar, you will
learn from Eventbrite the magic formula to engage
your attendees and drive more registrations,
utilizing social media and innovative registration
best practices.
A Solid Year for Tondeur
Chapter Leaders
Create New
Connectivity
at WEC
Prior to the start of the World Education Congress (WEC) in St. Louis, the 2012-13 chapter
leaders from around the world will gather
together for the first time during their leadership year. The Chapter Leaders Forum is to be
held on Saturday, July 28. Just as WEC promises
its attendees that they will find their connectivity inspiration, chapter officers will find their
leadership inspiration.
This MPI volunteer leadership program
is designed to provide chapter leaders with
skills necessary to be an effective volunteer
leader. The program will provide an opportunity
to hear from fellow attendees and previous
chapter leaders on their successes and tribulations—creating a connection between both
past and present leaders.
The opening general session will set the
energetic tone for the daylong event and will
be kicked off by Tara Liaschenko, chairwoman
of the Chapter Advisory Council. The remainder
of the morning includes concurrent, interactive
breakout sessions that will cover topics like
succession planning, membership acquisition
and retention, chapter marketing and communications and chapter educational content.
Lunch, sponsored by the Mexico Tourism
Board, will feature comments to the group
by 2012-2013 MPI Chairman Kevin Hinton.
Students attending the IMEX-MPI Future Leaders Forum will also join the chapter leaders for
lunch. This completes the connection between
past, present and future leaders of the MPI
community.
In the afternoon, chapter leaders will
tackle many issues through another round of
concurrent, interactive sessions. From creating alliances between DMOs and CVBs, an
MPI Foundation Town Hall meeting and best
practices by past chapter presidents, practical
solutions will be drawn for complex issues.
The day closes with the chapter leaders
coming back together and sharing all the ideas
that were harvested through the new connections made during the day. So chapter leaders,
see you in St. Louis. Get ready for the new
connectivity that awaits you.
MPI would like to thank outgoing chairman Sébastien Tondeur for
his service during the past year by helping MPI focus on continuity
and innovation and elevating global engagement. Tondeur’s proven
leadership (he’s CEO of MCI Group) propelled MPI leaders to a
more structured and engaged era with its chapters.
As Tondeur finished his term on June 30, MPI welcomed in
chairman-elect Kevin Hinton, executive vice president for Associated
Luxury Hotels International (see Page 58).
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>>
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Thanks for a Great Year
The MPI Foundation would like to thank outgoing Foundation chairman Kevin Olsen for his dedicated service during
the past year. Olsen, the president and principal of One
Smooth Stone, also served for
seven years in various roles with
the Foundation, including its executive committee since 2008. He
also played a key role in the MPIF
rebranding initiatives. Through
Olsen’s leadership, the Foundation
remained committed to supporting
the mission of bringing vision and
prosperity to the meeting and
event community.
As Olsen finished his term on June 30, the Foundation
welcomed in chairman-elect Vincent LaRuffa, vice president
of resort sales and marketing for Universal Orlando Resort.
CONTRIBUTORS The MPI Foundation
thanks the following organizations and
individuals for their generous support.
THOUGHT LEADER
AIBTM
Freeman AV
Gaylord
Entertainment
IHG
IMEX
Jumeirah
Marriott International
Omni Hotels
PSAV
INNOVATOR
Dallas CVB
Hyatt Hotels
Las Vegas Sands
Corp.
Rosen Hotels and
Resorts
San Francisco Travel
Wyndham Hotel
Group
ADVOCATE
Abu Dhabi Tourism
Authority
AT&T Park
AVT Event
Technologies
Caesars Windsor
Canadian Tourism
Commission
Fairmont Hotels
& Resorts
IHG Canada
MCI
Mediasite by Sonic
Foundry
SWANK Audio Visual
Universal Orlando
Resorts
GATEKEEPER
Disney Destinations
Encore Productions
HelmsBriscoe
Barbican
Global Hotel Alliance
Hard Rock Café
International
Great Partnerships
In an initiative that further consolidates their longstanding relationship, IMEX Group has agreed to a
multiyear partnership investment in MPI and the MPI
Foundation around a number of industry initiatives.
For meeting professionals worldwide, the extended
partnership means greater access to rich education,
meaningful networks and higher levels of success.
The investment supports MPI’s 2012 World
Education Congress Closing General Session and European Reception, its presence at IncentiveWorks in
Canada and a commitment to the U.K. research into
the economic impact of events. IMEX will also make
a series of investments in the MPI Foundation for
the next five years and support the IMEX America
Rendezvous event. Ultimately, the agreement extends
MPI’s role as IMEX America’s exclusive strategic
partner.
San Francisco Travel, a pioneer partner, has also
signed a four-year deal (2012-15) with the MPI Foundation to be a VIP Area sponsor for Rendezvous.
The Best Connections You Can Make Without Wi-Fi
Network with your peers and give back to the industry you love at upcoming MPI Foundation events.
You’ll make new contacts, exchange ideas and have loads of fun, while also gaining satisfaction in
the knowledge that you have made a contribution to industry research and education.
CONTRIBUTOR
Conde Nast Digital
Jet Blue
Miller Coors
Site Solutions
CHAPTERS
Aloha
Arizona Sunbelt
Atlantic Canada
British Columbia
Chicago Area
Dallas/Fort Worth
Greater Edmonton
Indiana
Kentucky Bluegrass
Middle Pennsylvania
Montreal & Quebec
New England
New Jersey
Northern California
Oklahoma
Orange County
California
Oregon
Ottawa
Philadelphia Area
Sacramento/Sierra
Nevada
South Florida
Southern California
St. Louis Area
Tampa Bay Area
Texas Hill Country
Toronto
Virginia
Washington State
WestField
Wisconsin
THE BIG DEAL
RENDEZVOUS
CANADA ROCKS
8:30 p.m. to
midnight, Sunday, July 29
America’s Center
Convention Complex
9 p.m. to midnight,
Monday, July 30
City Museum
7:30 p.m.
Monday, August 20
Maison on Mercer in Toronto
Get ready to party and dance the
night away at the hippest venue
in St. Louis. MPI Foundation along
with Song Division has assembled
an all-star band for this year’s
Rendezvous. Musicians and artists
from famous bands such as John
Lennon, Prince, B52’s, Goo Goo
Dolls, Journey, Led Zeppelin and
Peter Frampton will deliver an unbelievable private concert. Want to be
a rock star for the night? Learn how
you can play with the band by going to www.mpiweb.org/wec2012/
rendezvous.
Kick off your IncentiveWorks
experience at Canada Rocks, the
NewFoundland way. Don’t miss an
extraordinary night of networking,
food and host bar at the industry
party of the year, featuring live entertainment from Alan Doyle of Juno
Award winners Great Big Sea and
comedian Mark Critch, with Seamus
O’Regan as the night’s emcee. Get
your tickets soon, last year was
nearly sold out.
Play all night and network like there’s
no tomorrow at The Big Deal. It’s
the biggest fundraising event that is
brought to you by Caesars Entertainment, Hilton Worldwide and Encore
Productions, and it all happens at
WEC! There is no limit to how much
fun you will have: Live music, fun
play tables, official World Series of
Poker satellite tournament, networking, host bands and so much more. If
you haven’t already, get your tickets
now. Planners get in free. Everyone
must have a ticket to enter.
ASSOCIATE
Associated
Luxury Hotels
International
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INDUSTRY INSIGHTS
CASE STUDY:
From Audit
to Innovation
An auto company determines the business value of its meetings to find improvements
and meet its goals.
BY JOHN NAWN
T
he case: A large automotive equipment manufacturer
wanted to evaluate its key performance indicators (KPIs) to
ensure that resources were being properly allocated. It conducted audits in three departments (design engineering, manufacturing and sales) that included process reviews, quality assessments,
time and motion studies as well as group and individual interviews
with employees and customers.
Audit Results
The findings lacked significant directives other than minor workflow and communications changes in design engineering, nonurgent changes to product features and onsite sales training.
Sales participated in a one-hour meeting, agreed with the need
for more customer site visits and spent the remainder of the time
planning those site visit strategies by territory.
Manufacturing staffers attended a three-hour meeting during
which they reviewed potential product changes and details of how
those changes might affect existing processes. No process changes
were recommended at that time.
Design engineering participated in a four-hour meeting to review recommended workflow, layout and communication strategy
changes. Attendees expressed anxiety about security, collaboration, creative space and personal proximity to people and tools.
The meeting adjourned with many questions unanswered and the
perception that design engineering’s work environment might be
changed without sound reasoning.
Follow-Up
A few years later, the company attempted to determine the long-term
success of its previous audits and solutions by using established internal and external measures. Leaders were surprised by the results.
Design engineering was objectively performing the best of all the
departments. Many of the solutions put in place earlier had contributed to new products and workflow innovations.
Manufacturing, however, was now experiencing late deliveries
and missed deadlines, primarily as a result of the increased perfor88
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mance of design engineering, and a lack of preparation to keep up.
The traditional forms of communication between manufacturing and
design engineering had become strained under these new conditions.
Sales staffers were suffering from the same problems they had
reported in the past. Site visits had increased; training had not.
Another round of meetings addressed these issues. These meetings, with clearly stated objectives, collaborative environments,
expected solutions and post-meeting accountability, exceeded
expectations and resulted in mutually satisfactory process improvements and improved communication among departments.
The Business Value of Meetings
When the business rational of your meetings is called into
question, equip yourself with the answers. Five white papers
with multiple tools help you measure, understand and
communicate the effectiveness of your meetings at www.
mpiweb.org/bvom.
A final meeting was subsequently held, consisting of representatives from each department and senior management to review
the results of process improvements to date, identify additional
opportunities for collaboration and brainstorm additional ways to
prevent process breakdowns and communication failures in the future. This meeting was so successful, the departments insisted upon
making it a regular event, representing a cultural change within the
organization.
Meeting-Driven Change
What started out with a simple need to evaluate existing KPIs
across an enterprise led to newfound respect among various departments and senior management, a more accountable system for
tracking progress and an annual meeting focused on continuous innovation and managed growth.
JOHN NAWN is founder of design firm www.theperfectmeeting.com,
which focuses on optimizing the attendee learning experience.
07.12
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MPI’S 2012 MEETING GUIDE TO
Affordable
LUXURY
Pages 90-91
Ocean Reef Club
Page 92
The Woodlands Resort
& Conference Center
Page 93
Talking Stick Resort
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MPI’S MEETING GUIDE TO AFFORDABLE LUXURY
2012
Ocean Reef Club
meetings.oceanreef.com
Ocean Reef has the distinction of
having two championship 18-hole
golf courses—a rarity in the Florida
Keys. There are endless ways to
spend the day, with nine tennis
courts, dual oceanfront pools, a
salon and spa, myriad restaurants
and lounges and more than a
dozen eclectic shops.
Secluded on the northernmost tip of Key Largo,
Ocean Reef Club offers 2,500 pristine, secure acres
less than an hour’s drive from Miami. Usually reserved
strictly for members, this exclusive club offers a rare
opportunity for select groups to experience its unique
way of life firsthand.
For more than 60 years, Ocean Reef Club has been
the destination of choice for board meetings, business
conferences, presidential retreats and incentive gatherings that reward and inspire. Blending contemporary comfort with advanced capabilities, Ocean Reef
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offers 30,000 square feet of meeting space, including
a 7,500-square-foot ballroom perfectly suited for a
sumptuous welcome or inspiring send-off. There is
an eclectic variety of meeting spaces, indoors and
out, including Buccaneer Island for waterfront special
events of virtually any size. Featuring its own saltwater lagoon, sandy beach, pools and Jacuzzi, it’s the
perfect setting for cocktail receptions, dinners, theme
parties and unique team-building events.
At Ocean Reef Club, meeting planners and guests
may select from more than 275 splendid accommodations, including 175 inn rooms; 100 spacious
one-, two- and three-bedroom villas; and countless
beautiful private homes, many with pools. Guest
accommodations have been lovingly and thoroughly
updated over the past three years, the result of a now
complete $50 million renovation program. Newly
renovated inn rooms offer exquisite marble floors,
separate soaking tubs and flat-screen televisions only
steps from the sea, while state-of-the-art conveniences—such as WiFi throughout meeting and accommodation rooms—are found at every turn.
Beyond the meeting, there are a million ways to
play at Ocean Reef. Inside the gates, a 175-slip marina
provides access to world-class fishing, snorkeling
and SCUBA diving on North America’s only living
coral reef. Whether fishing the flats, offshore or reef,
Ocean Reef’s expert guides can take guests to the
best spots and share their secrets for reeling in the
“big ones.” Kayaking through mangroves and bird
rookeries offers yet another way to explore the waters
surrounding Ocean Reef.
Ocean Reef has the distinction of having two
championship 18-hole golf courses—a rarity in the
Florida Keys. There are endless ways to spend the day,
with nine tennis courts, dual oceanfront pools, a salon
and spa, myriad restaurants and lounges and more
than a dozen eclectic shops.
Along with privacy, impeccable service is Ocean
Reef Club’s foremost priority. Meeting planners can
rest assured that one point of contact will handle
every detail of their group’s visit—from arrival amenities through departure transportation. Contact Ocean
Reef Club at www.Meetings.OceanReef.com or
(800) 843-2730.
SUPPLEMENT
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MPI’S MEETING GUIDE TO AFFORDABLE LUXURY
The Woodlands Resort & Conference Center
woodlandsresort.com
Offering a distraction-free meeting environment among
28,000 acres of forest preserves, The Woodlands Resort
& Conference Center combines the highest quality
conference facilities with luxurious resort amenities. The
conference center, a founding member of the International Association of Conference Centers (IACC), offers
60,000 square feet of event space comprised of indoor
and outdoor locations from glass-enclosed ballrooms to
forest decks.
Meeting rooms with natural light and views of
the lake or forest, two full-service business centers,
a concierge floor with private boardroom and highspeed Internet accessibility throughout are just some
of the conference center highlights. Attendees will find
plenty to do in between sessions with a variety of resort
activities such as indoor and outdoor tennis courts, a
full-service spa and hike and bike trails. Plus, it’s the only
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The Woodlands Resort & Conference
Center is Texas’ ultimate meeting and
convention destination.
conference center in the Greater Houston area with two
on-property golf courses and a staff of PGA professionals to assist with tournament coordination.
Located 30 minutes north of Houston, 25 minutes
from George Bush International Airport and offering the
added convenience of shuttle service to-and-from the
airport, The Woodlands Resort and Conference Center is
Texas’ ultimate meeting and convention destination.
For more information on The Woodlands Resort &
Conference Center, visit www.woodlandsresort.com
or call (866) 317-4718.
SUPPLEMENT
Affordable Luxury Supplement 0712.indd 92
6/27/12 12:15 PM
2012
Talking Stick Resort
talkingstickresort.com
With more than 100,000 square feet of indoor/outdoor meeting space, state-of-the-art audio and visual
capabilities and the flexibility to accommodate groups
up to 2,000, Scottsdale’s Talking Stick Resort is all
business. But with five outstanding dining venues and
a host of entertainment options—including a thrilling
casino, a world-class spa and two championship golf
courses—it’s a lot of fun, as well.
Talking Stick Resort features a functional, stateof-the-art conference center with a 25,000-squarefoot grand ballroom that can be divided into eight
separate rooms or used for one spectacular occasion.
It also offers 21 meeting rooms, full-service catering
services and plenty of entertainment for attendees.
Entertainment options include a 650-seat showroom
offering live entertainment, Players Sports Bar and Shadows, a martini and cigar bar. The resort’s most exciting
Talking Stick Resort features a
functional, state-of-the-art
conference center.
amenity is its 240,000-square-foot gaming floor.
The stress of making the big business deal or
winning the big hand can quickly be eased with a
visit to The Spa at Talking Stick. The 14th-floor spa
has 11 treatment rooms with services inspired by the
SRPMIC’s Native American culture as well as a steam
room, sauna and gym.
Approach your next meeting from a TSR perspective. For more information, contact Steven Horowitz
at steven.horowitz@talkingstickresort.com or call at
(877) 724-4687.
SUPPLEMENT
Affordable Luxury Supplement 0712.indd 93
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MPI STRATEGIC PARTNERS
STRATEGIC ALLIANCE
MPI MARKETSMART BUSINESS SOLUTIONS
GLOBAL PARTNERS
TM
ELITE PARTNERS
PREMIER PARTNERS
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Sponsors 0712.indd 95
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6/27/12 4:55 PM
>
>
UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN
“
In the new
India, the curators
of ideas are going to
be very important.
If I can influence the
influencer, we can
make a profit and
do good, too.”
For more with Lakshmi Pratury, host and curator
of idea fest INK Conference, turn to Page 80.
PHOTO: NAMAS BHOJANI
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